PSALM defers sale of four power barges
State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has moved to March 2012 the sale of four diesel-fired power barges, to give prospective bidders more time to conduct a grid impact study (GIS) on the facilities.
In a briefing, PSALM president and chief executive officer Emmanuel R. Ledesma Jr. said the grid impact study, which would be conducted by transmission operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, would take about four to six weeks to complete.
“That is why there is a slight delay. Initially, we are targeting to privatize the power barges by the middle of January. We are now looking at (bidding it out) sometime in March,” Ledesma added.
The GIS will help determine if the electricity generated by Power Barges 101, 102, 103 and 104—each of which can generate 32 megawatts of power—can be absorbed by the Mindanao grid or if the existing transmission lines were enough to transmit the electricity from the power plant to the substations.
The PSALM board has decided to include in the terms of contract a provision that mandates the winning bidder to “immediately” transfer the power barges in Mindanao and station them on the island for at least three years.
“The power barges are movable, and can be relocated with adequate mooring structures. PB 101, 102, 103 and 104 are nominal 32-MW barge-mounted bunker-fired power stations that consist of four identical Hitachi-Sulzer diesel generator units rated at 8 MW each,” Ledesma said.
All transfer costs will be on the account of the winning bidder, he said.
Commissioned in 1981, PB 101 and PB 102 are now moored at Barrio Obrero, Iloilo City, while PB 103 and 104, which were commissioned in 1985, are moored at Botongon, Estancia, Iloilo, and at the Holcim Compound, Ilang, Davao City, respectively.
State-run National Power Corp. earlier bought the power barges from Japanese firm Hitachi Zosen Corp. They were used to help ease a severe power shortage in country, providing needed support in the Visayas and Mindanao.
