State-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it successfully bidded out rights to the bulk and “strips” (small-sized) of energy output from the 588.5-megawatt Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plant (ULGPP) in Tongonan, Leyte.
Unified Leyte Geothermal Energy Inc. (ULGEI) submitted the highest bid among three prospective Independent Power Producer Administrators (IPPAs) that vied for the bulk energy allotment of ULGPP’s output capacity, according to PSALM.
The other two were Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and Aboitiz Renewables Inc.
ULGEI offered P215 million and was the only one that met the reserve price set by PSALM. As such, PSALM said, it would be tasked to trade ULGPP’s total output (bulk and sum of strips) and will have the right to tap the power facility’s capacity in excess of 240 megawatts.
ULGPP is composed of the 125-megawatt Upper Mahiao, 232.5-megawatt Malitbog, and 180-megawatt Mahanagdong power plants, and 51-megawatt optimization plants. ULGPP is covered by power purchase agreements between the National Power Corp. and Energy Development Corp.
PSALM also said that 200 megawatts, or 200 “strips” of energy, were auctioned off in such a way that an IPPA could win the rights to strips of energy ranging from 1 megawatt up to a maximum of 40 megawatts. PSALM retained 40 megawatts as “security capacity.” The tenders were conducted on Nov. 7 and 8.
The highest bidders for the strips were FDC Utilities Inc., which offered a generation payment of P5.2588 per kilowatt/hour and got 40 megawatts; ULGEI, with P5.21 per kilowatt/hour and got 40 megawatts; Trans-Asia, with P5.0166 per kilowatt/hour and got 40 megawatts; Aboitiz Energy Solutions, Inc., which bid P4.9188 per kilowatt/hour and got 40 megawatts; Waterfront Mactan Casino Hotel Inc., which bid P4.90 per kilowatt/hour and got 3 megawatts; Good Friends Hydro Resources Corp., which bid P4.88 per kilowatt/hour and got 20 megawatts; and Vivant Energy Corp., which bid P4.6629 per kilowatt/hour and got 17 megawatts (including the last 1-megawatt allotment referred to as the 200th “strip” of energy).