CBK hydropower race pushed back to April

Caliraya Hydroelectric Power Plant | PHOTO: cbkpower.com

The bidding for the privatization of the Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power plant complex in Laguna province will be pushed back to April due to delays in the third round of green energy auction (GEA-3), energy officials said.

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Raphael Lotilla said this got put off after Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chair and chief executive officer Monalisa Dimalanta faced preventive suspension late last year, leading to delays in the issuance of the price determination methodology for the GEA-3.

The bidding was initially set in November 2024.

READ: First Gen bidding for CBK privatization

“That cascaded in all the delays and therefore that’s why we had to, we could not proceed with it,” he said in a media briefing on Wednesday.

“Psalm (Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.) would have been able to privatize that even without GEA-3 but the concern of the Department of Finance was to enhance the privatization value of CBK and that’s why it got delayed,” Lotilla added.

The GEA-3, slated for launch next month, will focus on geothermal, impounding hydro, and pumped-storage hydro.

Following the reinstatement of the ERC chief, DOE undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said that bid prices had already been released.

Guevarra said that awaiting the price determination methodology of the new round of green power auction was necessary as this could “impact” the value of the 796.64-megawatt (MW) CBK with new pumped-storage hydro plants coming in.

The CBK is a state-owned power asset up for privatization by Psalm.

In March, Psalm chair and Finance chief Ralph Recto said the state-run organization expects to generate P50 billion to P100 billion from the privatization of the CBK power plants in Lumban, Majayjay, and Kalayaan in Laguna.

Currently, the CBK plant complex is under a build-rehabilitate-operate-transfer and power purchase agreement between the CBK Power Company Limited and the National Power Corporation for 25 years. This setup will last until February 2026.

SN Aboitiz Power Corp., First Gen Corp., ACEN Corp., and Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. earlier expressed a desire to join the CBK bidding.