Napocor to bid out Agus HEPP rehabilitation

MANILA, Philippines — The National Power Corp. (Napocor) is bidding out the contract to do the feasibility study for rehabilitation of the Agus Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEPP) within the quarter.

This feasibility study would finalize the rehabilitation plan for the power complex in 2020, its top official said.

“We are finishing the terms of reference for the feasibility study and then the consultancy service for the study will be bid out,” Napocor president Pio Benavidez told The STAR.

To be procured within the first quarter, the feasibility study take 48 weeks or roughly a year to complete, the Napocor chief said.

The study would determine which of the three options laid out would be best to rehabilitate the hydropower complex.

“We are looking at three options. One is focused on restoring the rated capacity, the second is to increase its capacity by 10 percent, and the third is applicable to the first two options by improving the facility’s water efficiency,” Benavidez said.

In improving the water efficiency of the project, the Baloi flood control project will raise the output of Agus 1 and 2. 

Once it is decided, Napocor will proceed to the contract bidding of the Agus HEPP rehabilitation, Benavidez said.

In terms of project funding, multilateral lenders are willing to finance the rehabilitation of the power complex, which is expected to cost up to P40 billion.

“We have no problem in securing funds since there’s the World Bank, JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and Chinese development banks,” Benavidez said.

The Agus Power Plant Complex consists of six cascading power plants which uses the water from Lake Lanao in Marawi City, flowing through the Agus River and down to Maria Cristina Falls in Iligan City.

The project should have seven facilities but the third project, Agus III, has yet to be finished.

The whole complex has an installed capacity of 728.1 megawatts (MW), the biggest coming from Agus VI with 200 MW. It is the oldest facility, commissioned in 1953.

With the Pulangi HEPP, both facilities have an installed capacity of 982 MW, but the power facilities can only supply up to 40 percent of their total capacity to the Mindanao grid.

The Agus-Pulangi power complex is government’s remaining power asset in Mindanao. The rehabilitation project is aimed at extending the facilities’ service life by 30 more years and to increase the plants’ reliability and availability.