The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has pre-qualified seven companies interested in bidding for the 165-megawatt (MW) Casecnan Hydroelectric Power Plant.
In a report by Business Mirror, PSALM president Dennis Edward Dela Serna said among the 14 bidders that previously showed interest, only seven pursued their bids.
Among the firms that pushed with their bids include: First Gen Corporation’s Fresh Tover Lakers Corp.; SN Aboitiz’s Neptune Hydro Inc.; MERALCO-Global Business Power Corp.’s Global Hydro Power Corp.; ACEN Corp.’s Giga Ace 11 Inc.; and Panasia Energy Inc. – a consortium between EEI Power Corp., Soosan ENS Co. Ltd, Soosan Industries Co. Ltd., and Mapalad Power Corp.
The deadline for the bid submission was moved to May 16 from the original date of April 18, Dela Serna said.
The PSALM chief noted they are waiting for some documents from the National Irrigation Administration as “we need its approval for certain documents since we co-own this.”
The divestment of CHEPP will be the first power plant divestment under the Marcos Administration. The move will be the continuation of the privatization of the state-owned assets which were previously under the control and management of the National Power Corporation.
The 165 MW Casecnan plant is a run-of-river type of power facility with limited impounding located in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.
The power asset was transferred under the government after the build-operate-transfer agreement between the CE Casecnan Water and Energy Co. Inc., and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) officially ended on December 11, 2021.