Vivant Corp bags 5-year contract to operate Bauang power plant

MANILA, Philippines — Cebu-based Vivant Corp., owned by the Garcia-Escano family, has bagged a five-year contract to operate and maintain the Bauang Diesel Power Plant in La Union.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Vivant said its subsidiary 1590 Energy Corp. was awarded a five-year lease of the 215-megawatt diesel bunker-fired power plant, giving it the right to operate and maintain the power plant.

“Following an unsolicited proposal, which was subjected to a Swiss Challenge, the Provincial Government of La Union awarded a five-year lease contract to Vivant-led 1590 EC for the Bauang Diesel Power Plant, which supplies the peaking demand for power in the Luzon grid,” it said.

The Bauang plant adds to Vivant’s current portfolio of power projects. Vivant is involved in electric power generation, power distribution and retail electricity supply in the Philippines, particularly in Luzon and Visayas.

Through Vivant Energy Corp. (VEC), the holding firm bagged several strips of energy from Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plants (ULGPP) in a bidding conducted by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) in 2013.

It took management and control over “strips of energy” in 2014.

VEC also owns 50 percent of Coron-Busuanga generation facilities of Calamian Islands Power Corp. (CIPC).

In early 2017, VEC partnered with ET Energy Pilipinas Holding Corp. (ETPHC), a Chinese company to put up a joint venture to develop rooftop solar installations on commercial and industrial sites in the Philippines.

VEC shall own 60 percent while ETPHC shall own 40 percent equity in the joint venture firm.

Meanwhile, Vivant has firmed up its partnership with Global Business Power Corp. (GBP) to put up a 670-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in La Union, solidifying their entry into Luzon.

Both firms have signed a pre-development agreement (PDA) to build a 2x335-MW coal-fired power plant in Luna, La Union, which will be constructed under Lunar Powercore Inc., a special purpose vehicle Global Luzon Energy Development Corp. (GLEDC).

GLEDC will undertake the financing, design, procurement, construction, testing, commission, operation and maintenance of the coal-fired power plant.

Vivant and GBP have allocated the amount of P450 million for the activities to be conducted under the deal.

The power project is scheduled to become start commercial operations by 2022.