Meralco seeks bidders for 600 MW baseload supply

MANILA, Philippines —  The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is soliciting bids for 600 megawatts (MW) of baseload supply intended to meet the company’s power requirements starting next year.

Meralco has opened the competitive selection process (CSP), which involves a 15-year power supply agreement (PSA) that is targeted to start on Aug. 26, 2025.

“The conduct of the CSP is part of Meralco’s continuing efforts to ensure the availability of reliable, sufficient and cost-competitive power for customers,” the company said.

This came after the Department of Energy issued a certificate of conformity to Meralco’s latest DOE-approved power supply procurement plan for the terms of reference (TOR) for the CSP.

The TOR, pursuant to the agency’s advisory dated Oct. 11, 2023, highly encourages power suppliers with natural gas-fired power plants to join the bidding and “prioritize the use of indigenous natural gas.”

The minimum offered contract capacity per bidder shall be at least 150 MW.

The deadline for submission of an expression of interest is set for June 25, while the pre-bid conference and bid submission deadline are scheduled for July 4 and Aug. 2, respectively.

Last month, the power distributor controlled by tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan started its CSP for 500 MW of mid-merit renewable energy (RE) capacity to boost the share of clean energy in its power supply portfolio.