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GOVERNMENT-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities
Management Corp. (PSALM) formally opened the sale of
another major generating asset—the 620-megawatt (MW)
Limay Combined-Cycle power plant.
PSALM
said interested parties are required to submit a letter
of interest, execute a confidentiality agreement and
undertaking, and pay a nonrefundable participation fee
of $2,000.
Deadline
for submission of all requirements is set on or before 5
p.m. of May 30, 2008. The bidding package will be issued
to compliant parties beginning May 19 until May 30.
PSALM
also announced that the due diligence period will be
from May 21 to July 28, while the prebid conference for
qualified participants is scheduled on June 4. Bidding
date will be on July 20.
A
combined-cycle power plant such as the Limay facility
generates electricity using a combination of bunker and
diesel fuel. To improve fuel efficiency, the plant also
utilizes the heat of exhaust from the gas turbines to
boil water inside a boiler which then produces steam to
drive the turbines.
Commissioned in 1993, the Limay combined-cycle power
plant comprises two 310-MW modules, Blocks A and B,
which consist of three 70-MW gas turbines and a 120-MW
steam turbine, respectively. Located in the province of
Bataan, approximately 145 kilometers west of Manila, the
plant is designed to meet the base-load demand of the
Luzon grid.
PSALM
earlier expressed confidence in gaining the full support
and participation of qualified bidders in the upcoming
bidding exercise after it allocated more than 400 MW of
power-supply contracts to the sale of the Tiwi-MakBan
power facilities. This will provide the winning bidder a
ready market for the electricity that the power complex
will generate.
With the
expected sale of the Tiwi-MakBan geothermal complex,
PSALM hopes to reach a significant output that will
bring it closer to the 70-percent privatization target
for the generating assets of the National Power Corp. in
Luzon and the Visayas to fulfill one of the
preconditions for implementing open access and retail
competition in the Philippine electricity industry.
PSALM is
tasked to privatize 31 power plants with a total
generation capacity of 4,337.2 MW. Other big-ticket
assets that are up for sale are the 600-MW Calaca coal
plant, the 112-MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydropower plant,
the 360-MW hydropower plant, the 620-MW Limay diesel
plant and the 114-MW Iligan I and II diesel bunker
plant. |
