PSALM rebids Unified Leyte bulk energy deal

MANILA, Philippines—State-owned Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is rebidding the contract to manage the bulk capacity of the 600-megawatt (MW) Unified Leyte geothermal power plant (ULGPP) complex.

In a bid bulletin, PSALM announced the new round of selection and appointment of the Independent Power Producer Administrator (IPPA) for the ULGPP’s so-called bulk energy contract on Aug. 12.

“It is around 150 to 160 MW,” PSALM president and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said in a text message, when asked to describe the bulk capacity.

Interested parties must submit a letter of interest to PSALM’s privatization bids and awards committee by March 24. Those that meet this requirement will then pay a participation fee of P120,000 and execute a confidentiality agreement and undertaking by March 30.

The bidding procedures will be issued to qualified participants from March 30 to April 6.

A prebid conference will be held on May 6.

On the tender date, bidders will be required to submit a bid security of about P220 million. The bid security of the winning bidder will be substituted by a performance bond “to guarantee the prompt, faithful and complete performance of its obligations under the transaction,” PSALM said.

PSALM first auctioned off ULGPP’s bulk capacity along with the “strips” in November 2013.

The state firm successfully tendered a consolidated 200 MW of the smaller output packages called “strips”—the other component of ULGPP’s IPPA structure—and awarded the contracts to seven companies in December 2014.

PSALM kept 40 MW under its control as “security capacity.”

About 380 MW to 400 MW of the ULGPP’s entire output is traded in the energy spot market. Riza T. Olchondra