MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has secured the lowest offers for its 600 megawatts (MW) baseload supply requirement through the conduct of a competitive selection process (CSP).
Meralco said in a statement yesterday of the eight bidders which expressed interest to participate in the CSP, six submitted their qualification documents, technical proposal and bid price.
San Miguel Corp.’s (SMC) Masinloc Power Co. Ltd. was declared the best bid after it offered P5.6015 per kilowatt hour (kWh) total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) rate, inclusive of line rental cost and value-added tax for 500 MW capacity.
Aboitiz Power’s GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. offered to supply the remaining 100 MW baseload requirement at an LCOE rate of P5.7392 per kWh.
Both offers are significantly lower than the P7.2609 per kWh reserve price set for the bidding.
The resulting 15-year power supply agreements (PSAs) will be subject to regulatory proceedings and approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission, prior to the planned effectivity on August 26, 2025.
Declared as next possible best bids are SMC’s Mariveles Power Generation Corp. that offered P6.4017 per kWh for 200 MW of supply and Thai firm Electricity Generating Public Co.’s Quezon Power Philippines Limited Co. which submitted a P6.5487 per kWh bid for 400 MW of the baseload requirement.
Meralco said the submissions passed the criteria contained in the bidding documents and pre-qualification evaluation.
The company said two other bidders were deemed non-compliant as their offers were higher than the reserve price – DMCI Group’s Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. which offered a total LCOE rate of P7.7303 per kWh and Aboitiz Power’s Therma Luzon Inc.’s bid of P8.3388 per kWh.
Earlier, Meralco said First Gen Corp.’s natural gas-fired power plant subsidiaries First Gas Power Corp. and First NatGas Power Corp. also intended to join the CSP.
“The robust turnout of this CSP is a welcome development for Meralco’s continuing efforts to source sufficient power supply for its customers at the least cost possible… We will now proceed with the post-qualification evaluation prior to issuance of Notices of Award and execution of PSAs,” said Lawrence Fernandez, Meralco Bids and Awards Committee for Power Supply Agreements chairman, in a statement.
Fernandez also said the CSP was conducted through “an open and transparent process” which was also witnessed by observers including consumer groups, apart from the whole proceedings streamed live online.
