Meralco declares failed bidding for 850 MW RE capacity

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) declared a failed bidding for its 850 megawatts (MW) renewable energy (RE) mid-merit supply deal due to lack of competing bids.

Meralco’s Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC) did not receive any bids to challenge the unsolicited proposal of Terra Solar Philippines Inc. during the deadline yesterday.

Initially, two interested bidders – SMC Global Light and Power and SunAsia Energy Inc. expressed interest to participate in the bidding.

SGLP wrote and notified the TPBAC that it would no longer participate in the 850 MW CSP.

SunAsia submitted a “notice of non-submission of bid.”

Pursuant to Section 9 of the Revised CSP Rules, a “comparative bidding is considered failed when, during its conduct, no comparative bid was received by the TPBAC.”

Meralco said it would wait for further announcements from TPBAC on the next steps.

On Jan. 22, Meralco launched the CSP after the Department of Energy (DOE) approved the CSP’s Terms of Reference and Bid Requirements.

This was after Terra Solar, a joint venture between Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. of port magnate Enrique Razon and Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc., founded by Leandro Leviste – proposed to supply Meralco with 850-MW mid merit capacity from 2,500 MW solar and 4,000MWh battery storage.

Terra Solar offered a P6.08 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) headline rate and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for the said capacity.

The original proponent – a joint venture of Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. and Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. – has proposed solar power plants with an energy storage system (ESS) in Batangas-Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, and Zambales.

A total 600 MW of its power supply will be available by Feb. 26, 2026, while the additional 250 MW are expected to be delivered starting Feb. 26, 2027.

The original bid submission deadline was March 7, but was later extended to April 5 to accommodate a prospective bidder’s request for more time.

In extending the deadline, the TPBAC emphasized that its decisions were made in consideration of its mandate to uphold the policy under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) and the Revised CSP Rules to conduct a competitive public bidding, which ensures the quality, reliability, security and affordability of electric power supply to Meralco’s captive customers.

The TPBAC did not receive any motion or request to further extend the deadline.

In its notice yesterday, Sun-Asia manifested its interest to participate in the next round of competitive challenge, should there be any.

SunAsia Energy president Theresa “Tetchi” Capellan earlier described Meralco’s latest CSP as “a very intimidating bid process” since it is the biggest deal in the region.

Meralco is looking to shift its energy mix in the medium term by bidding out 1,000 to 1,500 MW of RE generation in the next five years. In its current portfolio, 94 percent of its energy mix comes from fossil fuels.

With this plan, Meralco plans to shift all its mid-merit capacity, which accounts for 29 percent of its total supply to RE.

Meralco’s mid-merit capacity is mostly being served by gas-fired power plants.

Mid-merit plants are those plants that can quickly ramp up capacity, filling the gap between baseload and peaking plants that run during peak hours.