Three years after the Supreme Court decision, Aboitiz Power Corp. received the Certificate of Effectivity (COE) from Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to initiate the purchase of the 153.1-megawatt (MW) Naga Power Plant Complex (NPPC) in Cebu.
The COE implements the Sept. 28, 2015 decision of the high court, which upheld the April 30, 2014 award of the facility to AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Power Visayas Inc. (TPVI).
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“We appreciate the decision of PSALM and we look forward to operating the facility and contribute to securing the energy needs of the Visayas,” AboitizPower president and COO Antonio R. Moraza said.
The company said it is planning to upgrade the 153.1-MW facility, noting that it still has room for additional capacity, once it has been turned over.
“The idea would be to upgrade the facility and put up a more efficient power plant,” Aboitiz Power CEO Erramon Aboitiz said earlier.
PSALM awarded the certificate to TPVI in 2014 when it approved its highest bid of P1.088 billion after two failed biddings.
SPC Power Corp. exercised its right to match the winning bid of TVPI with a payment of P1.14 billion, based on its NPPC-Land Lease Agreement (LLA) with PSALM executed in 2009.
Despite the appeals from SPC, the SC’s Sept. 28, 2015 was reiterated in its Oct. 5, 2016 resolution and in another ruling dated January 9, 2017.
The NPPC contract is a 25-year lease agreement over the land containing the Naga complex. The power facility in Colon, Naga City consists of the 52.5-megawatt Cebu 1 and 56.8-MW Cebu 2 coal-fired thermal power plants, and the 43.8-MW Cebu diesel power plant composed of six 7.3-MW bunker oil power units.
