Manila Electric Company, the country’s largest distribution utility, is looking for power providers that can challenge the unsolicited proposal of Solar Philippines covering 200 megawatts of baseload supply starting in 2024.
The dominant power distributor’s Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee officially kicked off the Competitive Selection Process to challenge the offer of Solar Philippines Batangas Baseload Corporation.
SPBBC offered a P4.65 per kilowatt-hour headline rate at a 100 percent plant capacity factor and a similar rate for the levelized cost of electricity for 20 years.
The company proposed to source the 200-MW contract capacity and guaranteed output from a 1,800 MW solar project and 1,800 megawatt-hours of battery storage currently under development.
Wide RE options
To ensure the availability of 24/7 supply, SPBBC may also get backup power from other plants in its renewable energy portfolio. It has proposed solar power plants with an energy storage system in Batangas, Cavite, and Laguna.
Based on the Terms of Reference of the CSP, offers should cover the full contract capacity, and may be sourced from a single or portfolio of power plants with commercial operations not earlier than February 2019 but not later than March 2024.
Interested challengers have until 31 August to submit their expressions of interest.
The Pre-Bid Conference is scheduled for 1 September, while the Bid Submission Deadline is set on 5 October.
Late submissions and requests for additional time will not be allowed in all stages of the bidding process.
Apart from this, Meralco is also conducting a competitive challenge for Ahunan Power’s proposal to supply 500-MW mid- merit requirement from RE starting 2026 and is negotiating for another mid-merit offer of Terra Solar covering 850 MW RE supply.
The CSPs are compliant with the Department of Energy’s Renewable Portfolio Standards policy and part of Meralco’s efforts to source up to 1,500 MW of its power requirements from RE sources.