PNOC-EDC to bid for Tiwi-Makban geothermal complex

MANILA, Philippines - The PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) on Tuesday officially disclosed that it will participate in the bidding for the Tiwi and Makban geothermal power plant complex. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), PNOC-EDC investor relations manager and company information officer Erudito Recio said the company will bid for the 289-megawatt Tiwi and 458.53 MW Makban geothermal facilities in Albay and Batangas provinces, respectively. The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), an entity tasked to handle the privatization of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) assets, has set the bidding date for the said geothermal complex on June 4. PSALM has given up prospective investors until March 12, 2008 to submit their letters of interest to the asset management firm. The Tiwi-Makban geothermal complex, PSALM said, will be sold in an “as is, where is" basis. According to PSALM, the bid will include the steam field facilities and the Geothermal Resources Sales Contract (GRSC) between PSALM and the Philippine Geothermal, Inc. (now Chevron Geothermal Philippines Holdings, Inc.), the steam supplier for the two facilities. PSALM said it would also attach a transition supply contract to the Tiwi-Makban plant package. But it has yet to decide how much TSC will be affixed to the sale of the geothermal facilities. As a prerequisite to the issuance of the bidding package, interested parties are required to execute a Confidentiality Agreement and Undertaking with PSALM and pay a non-refundable participation fee of $2,000 not later than March 14. PSALM will hold a pre-bid conference for interested bidders on April 2, 2008 at its Makati City office. The Tiwi geothermal power plant complex consists of three plants, namely, Plant A with two 60-MW units, Plant B with two 55-MW units, and Plant C with two 57-MW units. Plant B's Unit 4 was retired or decommissioned in 2003. The Makban plant complex - situated at the boundary of Bay and Calauan towns in Laguna and Sto. Tomas, Batangas - consists of Plants A and B with two 63-MW units each, Plant C with two 55-MW units, Plants D and E with two 20-MW units each, and a binary plant with five 3-MW and one 0.73-MW units. The Tiwi and Makban geothermal power plants were first commissioned in 1979. PSALM initially offered the Tiwi and Makban plants as a package in September 2005. The bidding, however, was withdrawn by PSALM to consider changes in the Bidding Procedures and Transaction Documents that the government power privatization firm has been adopting in its recently sold assets. - GMANews.TV