LOPEZ-LED First Gen Corp. is optimistic about the financial closing and turnover of the 165-megawatt (MW) Casecnan hydroelectric power plant in Nueva Ecija before the end of the year, its president said.
“We are waiting for all of the government approvals, including PCC [Philippine Competition Commission]. So, the ball is in the court of the government. In the meantime, we are arranging the financing,” First Gen President and Chief Operating Officer Francis Giles B. Puno told reporters partly in Filipino on the sidelines of a conference last week.
“We are ready to pay for the bid price on Casecnan. We are excited because we need to make sure that we can prove that the investment is feasible,” he added.
At a bidding held on May 16, state-led Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) received the highest bid from Fresh River Lakes Corp., a subsidiary of First Gen, at a price offer of $526 million.
The amount was higher than the minimum bid price of $227.27 million.
Mr. Puno said First Gen sourced the entire amount through domestic financing.
Situated in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, the Casecnan plant is a combined irrigation and power generation project.
The facility was turned over to the government in 2021 with the expiration of the build-operate-transfer contract with the previous operator, Casecnan Water and Energy Co., Inc. It is co-owned by the National Irrigation Administration and PSALM at a 60:40 sharing.
Meanwhile, Mr. Puno said the Lopez group is interested in bidding for the 728-MW Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) project, another state-owned power asset up for privatization by PSALM.
“We’re looking at it. We’re interested in CBK. But we’re waiting because there is a usual delay. Like Casecnan, we were ready two years ago but then the bidding happened only this year,” Mr. Puno said.
“So we don’t know when [the bidding] of CBK will happen, but we’re interested,” he said.
The CBK hydro facilities are currently under a 25-year build-rehabilitate-operate-transfer scheme operated by Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., or J-Power, and Sumitomo Corp. of Japan.
The facilities are composed of the 22.6-MW Caliraya in Lumban; 20.8-MW Botocan in Majayjay; and 684.6-MW Kalayaan I and II in Laguna. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera