Govt to pursue privatization of Napocor power assets

Manila Times.net

BY JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ Reporter

THE Department of Energy (DOE)on Wednesday said that it will continue to pursue the privatization of the National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) assets and contracts.

Amid clamor from investors for a resumption in the power sector privatization program, which has yet to move this year, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said that government will bid out National Power Corp.’s (Napocor) Naga power plant by June or July and the latter’s contracted capacity with the Unified Leyte Geothermal plants by the third quarter of the year.

The DOE is also in talks with lawmakers on the privatization efforts for the Agus-Pulangi hydropower complex.

He said that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), which is tasked to handle the privatization of Napocor assets, is now ironing out issued involved in the said assets’ privatization.

The Philippine Independent Power Producers Association (PIPPA) earlier called on the government to push through with its efforts to put Napocor assets on private hands to allow for their expansion and improvement.

Also, Ernesto Pantangco, PIPPA president, said that although most of state-owned power plants in Luzon have been privatized, a number of facilities that command a significant portion of supply in the Visayas and Mindanao remain under government’s contracted capacities with IPPs.

“If you look at Visayas, we still need to privatize Unified Leyte [geothermal plants] because currently, despite the influx of the new coal-fired capacities, Unified Leyte still accounts for about 54 percent,” he said.

On the other hand, government still controls the Agus-Pulangi hydro complex and the contracted output of several coal and geothermal plants in Minda–nao. These facilities provide more than half of the region’s power supply.

As of 31 December 2010, PSALM has privatized a total of 30 assets, which include 26 generating plants and four decommissioned facilities.

Twenty of these 30 assets represent 91.73 percent of Napocor’s generating capacities in the Luzon and Visayas grids.

PSALM has also assigned the contracted capacities of five independent power producers (IPP) contracted by Napocor to IPP Administrators (IPPAs). This covers 67.59 percent of the latter’s contracted capacities in the Luzon and Visayas grids.

The remaining generation assets held by PSALM include the Power Barges 101-104, the Agus-Pulangi facility, and the Malaya thermal power plant. The decommissioned plants on its auction list include the Sucat thermal power plant and the Bataan thermal power plant.

PSALM will also transfer to new IPPAs Napocor’s contracted capacities in the following IPPs: Naga, Unified Leyte, Western Mindanao Power Corp., Southern Philippine Power Corp., Min–danao coal-fired power plant, and Mount Apo geothermal power plants 1 & 2.