MANILA, Philippines—National Power Corp., the country’s biggest producer of electricity, plans to buy another 195,000 metric tons (MT) of steaming coal next month, to supply part of the requirements of its 1,000-megawatt (MW) Sual power plant in Pangasinan.

Napocor is under pressure to clinch contracts for the supply and delivery of coal as soon as possible, even as it assured the public that it holds sufficient coal inventory for its power plants.

A pre bidding conference is slated for July 2 while the auction will be held on July 15.

Napocor said three lots of 65,000 MT each would be auctioned off. These are for delivery between Aug. 5 and Oct. 18.

The approved budget for the contract will be announced two days before the bidding date.

Napocor has also scheduled a separate bidding tomorrow (July 1) for the supply and delivery of 390,000 MT of coal for both Sual and Pagbilao coal power plants.

Two previous auctions for the supply of 390,000 MT of coal had failed. The results of the third, which was held early in June and involved 195,000 MT of coal, have yet to be announced.

Edmund P. Anguluan, chair of Napocor’s bid and awards committee (BAC), earlier said that as of end May, Napocor had 59 days worth of coal inventory for Sual and 43 days worth of supplies for Pagbilao.

The Sual and Pagbilao facilities, along with the 200-MW Naga and the privatized 600-MW Masinloc coal-fired power plants, are responsible for about a fourth of the 8,600 megawatts of dependable capacity in the Luzon grid.

For 2009, Napocor said it would need to import at least 3.4 million MT of coal for all of its coal plants. Its coal requirement this year is lower than the 4.18 million MT last year, in view of the privatization of some of the Napocor plants last year.

Napocor earlier said it had earmarked as much as P26 billion for the purchase of the coal requirements this year.