DOE prepares to accept offers for geothermal, hydropower prospects

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy will soon be accepting direct offers for geothermal and hydropower prospects after it declared the third open and competitive selection process (OCSP 3) a failure.

In an advisory, the DOE said it declared the OCSP 3 held last February a failure as it only received three applications for three out of five geothermal pre-determined areas (PDAs) while it received bids for eight out of 17 hydropower PDAs.

The two geothermal areas without applications are the nine-megawatt (MW) Itogon project in Benguet and the four-MW Maricaban Island project in Tingloy, Batangas.

For the hydropower projects without offers, these are the three-MW Aklan River Lower East Tributary, the 2.4-MW Aklan River Middle West Tributary and the 2.4-MW Aklan Rivera Upper West Tributary all in Libacao, Aklan; the 0.3-MW Vera Falls and the 0.2-MW Palali projects both in Malinao, Albay; the 0.2-MW Coyaoyao (Upper Cascade) in Sagnay, Camarines Sur; the 1.4-MW Dapnan project in Baganga, Davao Oriental; and the 52-MW Balintingon project in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija.

Meanwhile, the eight bids for the hydropower PDAs were disqualified “because the proponents failed to submit the documentary requirements” under the OCSP3 guidelines.

Total Power Inc. submitted bids for the 0.8 MW Amlan (Plant C) hydroelectric power project, the 3.2 MW Amlan (Plant A) hydroelectric power project, the 2.1-MW Tibiao hydroelectric power project, and the 2.4-MW Aklan River Upper West Tributary hydroelectric power project.

Meanwhile, Century Peak Energy Corp. made offers for the 4.8-MW Hilabangan (Upper Cascade) hydroelectric power project, the three-MW Hilabangan (Lower Cascade) hydroelectric power project, the 4.5-MW Maninila (Lower Cascade) hydroelectric power project, the 3.1-MW Maninila (Upper Cascade) hydroelectric power project, and the four-MW Sibalom (Middle Cascade) hydroelectric power project.

With the failed process, the DOE said it would open the remaining PDAs for direct applications.

“For all those without bids, we will open it for direct negotiation upon posting on the website as approved by the Secretary,” DOE-Renewable Energy Management Bureau (REMB) Mylene Capongcol said in a text message to The STAR.

As for the geothermal areas with successful bids, Capongcol said the agency would soon announce the winners for each area.

“Anytime soon, we are ready to advise winning bids. But we can’t disclose yet,” Capongcol said.

The DOE originally eyed to award the contracts to the winning bidders on April 14.

During the opening of bids, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) and Philippine Geothermal Production Co. (PGPC) submitted offers for area 1: 27-MW Daklan geothermal project.

EDC and Mase Power Corp. also submitted their respective bids for Area 3: 17-MW Puting Lupa geothermal project.

PGPC made an offer for Area 5: 30-MW Mt. Labo geothermal project.

Under OCSP3, the identified five geothermal areas have a combined capacity of 87 MW and the 17 hydropower areas have a total of 65.4 MW capacity.

Under the service contracts, the OCSP winning bidders will have two years for pre-development for less than 50 MW and five years for at least 50 MW.

It also covers a 25-year development stage, which can be renewed for another 25 years.