30 Jul 2008
The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) today (30 July 2008) declared the AP Renewables Inc. as the highest bidder in the auction of the 289-megawatt (MW) Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant located in Tiwi, Albay and the 458.53-MW MakBan Geothermal Power Plant situated in Laguna and Batangas provinces, respectively.
AP Renewables' offer of USD446.9 million (USD446,888,008.00) for the Luzon-based geothermal facilities bested that of First Luzon Geothermal Energy Corp., which was priced at USD368.4 million (USD368,440,000.00). Both bids, which were submitted before the 12-noon deadline, exceeded the reserve price set by the PSALM Board.
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes was pleased with the bid results saying, "This is an important achievement as this is the first geothermal plant bid out by the government."
"The successful bidding of this big-ticket plant also brings us closer to the achievement of all preconditions for open access which promises reasonable power rates for the Filipino consumer," he added.
AP Renewables is a domestic corporation wholly owned by the Aboitiz Power Corporation (APC). APC is 75.59% owned by Aboitiz Equity Ventures.
PSALM said that once it has verified the accuracy, authenticity and completeness of all the Bid documents that the consortium has submitted, AP Renewables will be declared the winning bidder of the Tiwi-MakBan bid.
The government power privatization firm will then issue the Notice of Award to AP Renewables, formally informing the consortium as the winning bidder for the sale of the plant package.
PSALM attached a total of 475 MW in power supply contracts to the Tiwi-MakBan sale, providing the power facility's new owners with a ready market for its electricity output.
With the addition of the successful sale of the Tiwi-MakBan power complex, PSALM has now sold a total 2,597.93 MW of capacity for its Luzon and Visayas generating power plants.
In a separate development, the PSALM Board declared the sale for the 620-MW Limay Combined Cycle Power Plant a failure after it was left with only one interested bidder who submitted the Documentary Deliverables before the deadline. PSALM bidding rules explicitly state that the bidding for a power plant is considered failed if there is only one participant in the process. The PSALM also decided to rebid the National Power facility.
Strategic Communications and Partnership Division |