PSALM to sell Limay power plant by end-July

State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it targets to privatize the Limay combined cycle power plant in Bataan before the end of the month.

Commissioned in 1993, the Limay power plant comprises two 310-megawatt modules—Blocks A and B—which consist of three 70-megawatt gas turbines and a 100-megawatt steam turbine, respectively.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, PSALM is mandated to privatize the Limay facility under the program that aims to dispose at least 70 percent of state-run National Power Corp.’s assets, before retail competition in the power generation sector can set in.

PSALM is currently conducting a negotiated bidding for the plant with the two unnamed investors after its two previous auctions failed.

Prior to the negotiated sale, the Limay plant underwent unsuccessful biddings in April and September 2008. On both occasions, only one bidder submitted documentary deliverables to PSALM.

It would be recalled that the Aboitiz Group, a local conglomerate based in Cebu, and San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the country’s largest food and beverage company, earlier signified interest in the plant.

But Alan Ortiz, SMC’s utilities consultant, said that the company would not pursue the Limay plant anymore because converting the facility to run on diesel would be too expensive.

“When we looked at the rates to convert it, it turned out to be expensive,” he said. –Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Manila Times