Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. is bidding out the Independent Power Producer Administrator (IPPA) contract for the 200-MW Mindanao coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental province.
According to the invitation to bid which was published in newspapers, interested parties may conduct due diligence from April 13 until “two business days before the tender” on Sept. 23, 2015. All bids should be submitted at 12 noon on that day.
As in PSALM’s previous bidding, the opening and evaluation of bids would follow immediately at 12:30 p.m.
“The Mindanao coal IPPA selection is the second privatization activity of PSALM for this year. The first was the launch of the IPPA selection for the Bulk Energy of the Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plants (ULGPP) two weeks ago,” PSALM president and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said.
In the meantime, investors interested in the Mindanao coal power station must submit by 5 p.m. of April 7, 2015, a letter of interest to participate in the bidding process.
The other requirements are the execution of a confidentiality agreement and undertaking with PSALM, and payment of a nonrefundable participation fee of P120,000, either in cash, manager’s check or cashier’s check. The deadline for submission of the said requirements is on or before 5 p.m. April 13, 2015.
A pre-bidding conference will be held on May 6, 2015.
The Mindanao coal power plant was constructed in 2006 under a 25-year Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT)—Power Purchase Agreement.
German-led Steag State Power Inc. (SPI) currently operates the plant under a cooperation deal with PSALM. The state firm said the cooperation period with SPI will end in 2031.
In mid-March, SPI said the Mindanao coal-fired power plant went back online following preventive maintenance for its power generating Unit 1.
Unit 1, which went off line for a planned preventive maintenance beginning Feb. 21, 2015, was synchronized to the Mindanao grid on Thursday, March 12, 2015 at around 12:25 p.m.
Earlier, Unit 2, which went offline for preventive maintenance beginning Feb. 19, 2015, was restored on March 2, 2015 as scheduled.
SPI president and CEO Bodo Goerlich said, “With our full capacity now made available, we expect the power supply condition in Mindanao to improve.”
Goerlich said the timely conduct of the preventive maintenance and restoration of the units just in time for the onset of the summer months could provide a major relief to the volatile power supply condition of the island.