THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) will source 50 megawatts (MW) of its power requirements from the Bacon-Manito geothermal plants.
In separate disclosures on Wednesday, Meralco and Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said a five-year power supply agreement (PSA) between the country’s largest utility firm and EDC’s wholly owned subsidiary Bacman Geothermal Inc. (BGI) was signed.
Under the agreement, BGI will supply Meralco with 50 MW of power from the Bacman power plants over a term of five years extendible by an additional two years upon mutual agreement of the parties.
The PSA would still have to be approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
“The PSA was entered into to address the forecasted supply constraint and mitigate the company’s exposure to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market [WESM] during the summer months of 2015 and as part of Meralco’s continuing efforts to source additional capacities through interim bilateral contracts with power producers with available contracted capacity,” Meralco said.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said there is an anticipated supply deficiency of 700 MW next year.