Meralco seeks joint Angat Dam venture

Manila Standard Today

By Alena Mae S. Flores  Posted on Jun. 17, 2013 at 12:02am

Manila Electric Co., the country’s biggest power retailer, is interested in teaming up with Korea Water Resources Development Corp. to operate the 218-megawatt Angat hydropower plant in Bulacan, a top Meralco official said over the weekend.

Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan told reporters representatives of the Philippine company visited K-Water’s head office in Daejeon, Korea.

“We’ve spoken to them. We visited Daejeon, Korea where their headquarters is. I don’t think they already made a decision which group they want to partner with. At least, we take a look at it,” Pangilinan said.

K-Water offered the highest bid of $440.88 million in 2010 to operate the hydro power plant in Angat, Bulacan.

Several groups, however, opposed K-Water’s bid and

asked the Supreme Court to  nullify the sale, citing constitutionality issues. K-Water did not have a local partner when it offered and eventually won the bidding for the Angat facility.

The Supreme Court later upheld the legality of the sale of the Angat facility to K-Water, but the actual transfer of assets to the Korean company has not been done to date. PSALM officials declined to comment on the delay of the turnover.

Pangilinan said Meralco was not yet clear on the kind of partnership or ownership sharing it would pursue with K-Water.

Meralco may tap K-Water as a supplier although the company, through Meralco PowerGen Corp., is looking at several power generation projects for a joint venture.

Meralco PowerGen is developing power generation projects, including the 600-megawatt Subic coal plant in partnership with Aboitiz Power Corp. and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp..

Meralco PowerGen recently acquired a 70-percent interest in GMR Energy (Singapore) Pte Ltd. together with First Pacific Ltd.

GMR Energy is building an 800-MW liquefied natural gas plant in Singapore, which is set to start commercial operations at the end of the year.

PSALM earlier scheduled the turnover of the Angat plant to K-Water in January to February this year.

K-Water is engaged in the construction, operation and management of multi-purpose dams and multi-regional/local water supply systems. It is involved in complex development business assigned by the central and municipal governments in Korea.

The Angat power plants in San Lorenzo, Norzagaray, Bulacan consists of four main units, each with a 50-MW capacity. The units were commissioned between 1967 and 1968.   source