SMC, ACEN units best bids for Meralco RE supply deal

MANILA, Philippines — The power units of Ramon Ang’s San Miguel Corp. and the Ayala Group’s ACEN Corp. have placed the best bids for Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) 500 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy (RE) supply.

The power distributor of tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan said it secured the lowest bids from San Miguel-led San Roque Hydropower Inc. (SRHI) and ACEN’s Gigasol3 Inc. and Santa Cruz Solar Energy Inc. (SCSEI).

At the submission deadline on Wednesday, the three companies were said to have submitted their qualification documents, technical proposals and bid prices.

According to Meralco’s bids and awards committee for power supply agreements (BAC-PSA), SRHI offered the lowest total headline rate of P7.10 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for 340 MW of the total requirement.

Gigasol3 submitted a bid price of P8.1819 per kWh for 139 MW of the requirement, while SCSEI took the remaining 21 MW requirement at a rate of P8.1998 per kWh.

This latest competitive selection process (CSP) involves a 10-year PSA for Meralco’s 350-MW mid-merit requirement starting February next year that will increase by 150 MW in February 2026.

“As a highly regulated entity, Meralco has conducted its business in full compliance with the rules and regulations issued by the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) and the DOE (Department of Energy),” Meralco BAC-PSA chairman Larry Fernandez said.

Meralco said the submissions underwent a very rigorous assessment and pre-qualification evaluation, with the BAC-PSA set to conduct a post-qualification evaluation.

The recommendation and the report will then be forwarded to the Board of Directors of Meralco for approval before the award notices are issued.

Earlier, Meralco said the conduct of the CSP is in line with its continuing efforts to ensure the availability of reliable, sufficient and cost-competitive power for its customers.

To date, Meralco has already contracted 1,880 MW of RE capacity from various suppliers, surpassing its initial target of 1,500 MW. RE is expected to account for 22 percent of the company’s supply portfolio over the next six years.

Meralco is the largest power distribution company in the country, providing electric service to around 7.8 million customers within its franchise area coverage, which includes Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan, and select areas in Pampanga, Batangas, Laguna and Quezon.