The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) started the emergency procurement of 180 megawatts (MW) of baseload supply needed for the summer months after the Department of Energy (DOE) approved the terms of reference (TOR) for a competitive selection process (CSP).
Meralco said CSP is meant to cover for the output of plants that are affected by Malampaya facility’s continued inability to supply adequate natural gas fuel.
The 180 MW is also part of the company’s projected 350 MW additional power requirement to augment available supply during the summer months.
Through its Third Party Bids and Awards Committee, Meralco is inviting interested parties to submit their offers for the contract that will be effective upon the issuance of notice of award and approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) until July 25 this year.
Interested bidders have until March 31 to submit their expressions of interest. A pre-bid conference is is set on April 7 and actual bid submission deadline on May 4.
Based on the TOR of the CSP, participating plants must be from baseload or those that can operate 24×7 and are not sourcing fuel from the Malampaya gas resource.
The TOR also said participating power plants will have no outage allowance and are compelled to pay a fine equivalent to P908 multiplied by each MW hour during a day which shall be used to reduce the generation charge to the consumers, in case they cannot provide supply of power from their nominated power plant or portfolio of plants, spot market, or any other source.
Last February, Meralco entered into a power supply agreement with South Premiere Power Corp. for 170 MW worth of peaking power requirement that is already due for approval by the ERC.
