PSALM eyes rebidding of Malaya thermal plant by early 2020

MANILA, Philippines — The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) hopes to finally re-bid the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya thermal power plant (TPP) in Rizal early next year.

“By early 2020, we hope to do the next round of bidding for the Malaya TPP,” PSALM president and chief executive officer Irene Besido-Garcia said.

This as PSALM asked the Commission on Audit (COA) to allow it to reduce the minimum bid price (MBP) for the Malaya TPP.

The MBP is based on COA guidelines, that’s why the agency cannot unilaterally lower the price.

“Hopefully, we will get a response from COA in January 2020,” Besido-Garcia said.

Last month, PSALM declared the second round of bidding for the Malaya TPP another failure since no bidder met the minimum bid price (MBP) for the power plant and its underlying land in Pililia, Rizal despite having four qualified bidders.

The Malaya TPP has an MBP of P4.48 billion, which is too expensive for interested bidders since the power plant is already old and, as Besido-Garcia put it, “already way past its commercial life.”

It currently has two installed units, but only unit 2 is working.

The plant, which currently runs on diesel, was designated as a must-run unit (MRU) to address supply deficiency when operating power plants in the grid suddenly bog down or become unavailable.