Meralco to award CSP contracts

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is set to award contracts to winning bidders this Friday once the Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC) completes post-qualification of bids for its 1,800-megawatt (MW) competitive selection process (CSP).

“The post-qualification process has seven days, at most, to be completed. Thus, the latest date for releasing a Notice of Award is on Friday, assuming compliance with all post qualification requirements,” Meralco vice president and head of Utility Economics Department Lawrence Fernandez said.

Last week, the TPBAC received six bids for the 1,800-MW supply, with the two best bids from Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI) and Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd. (MPPCL).

EERI offered to supply Meralco 1,200 MW from a natural gas-fired power plant at a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) of P4.1462 per kilowatt hour (kWh).

Meanwhile, MPPCL’s offer is 600 MW from a coal-fired power plant at P4.2605 per kWh.

Both offers are significantly below the LCOE reserve price of P5.2559 per kWh.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi welcomed Meralco’s CSP, which had “very encouraging” results.

“It will definitely bring down rates, which would be to the benefit of our consumers. The CSP is a work in progress, which aims to help us achieve electricity tariff levels that are affordable and competitive enough to attract both foreign and local investors to do business in the Philippines,” he said.

EERI, a unit of SMC Global Power Holdings Inc., is putting up the 1,200-MW Ilijan Natural Gas-Fired Plant Project in Batangas.

Located in Zambales, MPPCL was acquired by SMC Global Power Holdings from Thai power firm Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO) and American energy giant AES Corp. in 2018.

Meralco successfully conducted its first CSP in September 2019 for 1,200-MW baseload supply for 10 years and 500 MW of mid-merit capacity for five years.

Meralco signed power supply agreements (PSAs) with First Gen Hydro Power Corp., Phinma Energy Corp., and South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) of the San Miguel Group for 500 MW supply while PSAs were inked with Phinma Energy Corp., San Miguel Energy Corp., and South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) to supply 1,200 MW for 10 years.