Six bidders submitted expressions of interest for the Competitive Selection Process (CSP) for 1,800 megawatts (MW) of supply needed by Manila Electric Co. to meet the growing demand of its customers starting next year.
Meralco did not name the bidders, but officials said that out of the six bidders, three joined the previous bidding for the same capacity.
“The last time we bid this out, there were more than three, I think, who participated in the bidding, so we expect them to express their interest to participate in the same bidding. They are not going to bid the entire 1,800; they can bid a portion of the 1,800,” according to Jose Ronald Valles, Meralco’s first vice president and regulatory management head.
Meralco prequalified six bidders in 2021, namely San Miguel Corp.’s subsidiaries Excellent Energy Resources Inc., Mariveles Power Generation Corp., and Masinloc Power Partners Ltd. Also prequalified were Consunji-owned St. Raphael Power Generation Inc., Atimonan One Energy Inc. of Meralco PowerGen, and Aboitiz Power Corp.’s GNPower Dinginin Ltd.
During the previous CSP bidding, SMC’s subsidiaries won the bids but decided to terminate the contract after failing to get the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission during the expected period.
This CSP is meant to replace the capacity covered by Meralco’s 2021 PSAs with Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI) and Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd. (MPPCL), which were terminated earlier this year.
The deadline for submission of interest is on Nov. 13, following the Department of Energy’s issuance of a certificate of conformity on the tems of reference (TOR) for a 15-year contract involving Meralco’s 1,800-MW baseload requirement starting December 2024. The Pre-Bid Conference is scheduled on Nov. 20, 2023, while the Bid Submission Deadline is set on Dec. 26, 2023.
