Business World Online
Posted on February 14, 2011 10:30:52 PM
THE GOVERNMENT hopes to sell its four remaining power barges this year, but will attach a condition that the three to be privatized first be stationed for some "years" in Mindanao, Energy officials said yesterday.
A file photo from the Web site of Therma Marine, Inc. shows one of the company’s 100-megawatt (MW) barges moored in Mindanao. The four remaining floating power units the government hopes to sell within the year each have a smaller capacity of 32 MW.
This, Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras told reporters, is meant to help avert a recurrence of a massive power shortage on the island that hit more than 500 megawatts (MW) at the height of the six-month-long dry spell in April last year.
The drought, which left dry the dams powering the hydro plants that provide Mindanao with more than half of its electricity supply, resulted in daily outages that lasted as long as eight hours in some parts of the island.
The power barges to be sold this year are those numbered 101-104, each with a capacity of 32 MW and all now stationed in the Visayas, the officials said.
First to be offered will be barges 101-103, said Conrad S. Tolentino, vice-president of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), which is tasked by law to sell the government’s power holdings.
Mr. Tolentino said via text that PSALM hopes to sell the three barges "between late second quarter to early third quarter."
The remaining power barge, 104, will be auctioned off later this year, Mr. Tolentino said.
Neither official could give the price the government hopes to get for each barge.
Mr. Tolentino said it could take an average of 45 days to transfer the floating power units to Mindanao from the Visayas.
But Mr. Almendras said the government hopes to have additional units in Mindanao "by May or June critical period when the hydroelectric plants’ water levels are low."
"Power barges 101-103 [are] operating way below capacity," Mr. Almendras said. "If there’s a private sector [party] willing to invest, there may be a resolution."
The Energy chief stressed, however, that "the sale has to have conditions."
He cited these conditions as offering the barges at a low price in order to attract buyers, as well as for winning bidders to commit to station the units in Mindanao and to let them "stay there for a certain number of years."
Petron Corp. last month won the auction for the fuel supply contracts for barges 101-103.
Aboitiz-led Therma Marine, Inc. won the auction for power barges 117 and 118 last year. Barge 117 was sold for $16 million and barge 118 for $14 million. Each has a 100-MW capacity. Both are now stationed in Mindanao. -- E. N. J. David
The drought, which left dry the dams powering the hydro plants that provide Mindanao with more than half of its electricity supply, resulted in daily outages that lasted as long as eight hours in some parts of the island.
The power barges to be sold this year are those numbered 101-104, each with a capacity of 32 MW and all now stationed in the Visayas, the officials said.
First to be offered will be barges 101-103, said Conrad S. Tolentino, vice-president of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), which is tasked by law to sell the government’s power holdings.
Mr. Tolentino said via text that PSALM hopes to sell the three barges "between late second quarter to early third quarter."
The remaining power barge, 104, will be auctioned off later this year, Mr. Tolentino said.
Neither official could give the price the government hopes to get for each barge.
Mr. Tolentino said it could take an average of 45 days to transfer the floating power units to Mindanao from the Visayas.
But Mr. Almendras said the government hopes to have additional units in Mindanao "by May or June critical period when the hydroelectric plants’ water levels are low."
"Power barges 101-103 [are] operating way below capacity," Mr. Almendras said. "If there’s a private sector [party] willing to invest, there may be a resolution."
The Energy chief stressed, however, that "the sale has to have conditions."
He cited these conditions as offering the barges at a low price in order to attract buyers, as well as for winning bidders to commit to station the units in Mindanao and to let them "stay there for a certain number of years."
Petron Corp. last month won the auction for the fuel supply contracts for barges 101-103.
Aboitiz-led Therma Marine, Inc. won the auction for power barges 117 and 118 last year. Barge 117 was sold for $16 million and barge 118 for $14 million. Each has a 100-MW capacity. Both are now stationed in Mindanao. -- E. N. J. David
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