Mindanao power plant contract draws 12 firms

A DOZEN prospective bidders have expressed interest in the government tender for the contract to manage the output of the 200-megawatt Mindanao coal-fired power plant—the biggest supplier of the power-starved Mindanao grid.

Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. will bid out the Independent Power Producer Administrator (IPPA) contract for the power station in September. PSALM data showed that 12 firms complied with initial requirements for participation.

These are Conal Holdings Corp., FDC Davao Del Norte Power Corp., FirstGen Northern Power Corp., GDF Suez Energy Philippines Inc., Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd., Meralco Powergen Corp., Nexif Pte. Ltd., SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., SPC Power Corp., Team (Philippines) Energy Corp., Therma Southern Mindanao Inc. (TSMI) and Vivant Energy Corp.

“We are delighted with the number of prospective bidders, which is more than our first IPPA bidding for the Mindanao region—that of the Mindanao I and II (Mt. Apo 1 and 2) geothermal power plants,” PSALM president and CEO Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said.

Among the initial requirements were the payment of a non-refundable participation fee and execution of a confidentiality agreement and undertaking with PSALM, for which the deadline lapsed on March 30, 2015.

PSALM is set to conduct the pre-bid conference for the prospective bidders on May 6 in preparation for the bidding scheduled on Sept. 23, 2015.