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US-based AES Corp. is set to sell the output of its recently
acquired coal-fired facility in the Philippines, the Masinloc power
plant, as repair and maintenance works have significantly jacked up
its capacity.
Matthew L. Bartley, AES Philippines president
and CEO, said the company is in talks with a number of potential
buyers of the 600-megawatt power plant’s output. “We’re
currently talking to potential offtakers and we’re ready and
willing to sell power to anyone who wants to purchase. We’re
talking to around four to five companies,” he said.
Bartley added the company now has the advantage
to offer more than 200 megawatts of electricity to potential
customers—electric distribution companies, cooperatives and
special economic zones—via power supply contracts of various
tenors.
Commissioned only in 1998, the Masinloc plant in
Zambales province is one of the lowest-cost thermal plants in the
country, but prior to its privatization, it has been operating at a
fraction of its 600-megawatt capacity.
AES has restored Masinloc’s running capacity
to 570 megawatts from only less than 150 megawatts since acquiring
the plant from the government for $930 million through a state
auction.
Officials of New York-listed AES earlier said
the company plans to expand the facility further to 1,200 megawatts
but did not give a specific date.
“We’ve already increased the capacity and
both units are running now,” Bartley said. “We are now busy
negotiating for contracts and preparing for the interim open
access.”
The Energy Regulatory Commission is set to
conduct a number of hearings in the coming weeks for the proposal to
fast track to accelerate the implementation of open access and
retail competition in the power sector, which hinges on the
privatization of 70 percent of the government’s generating and
contracted capacities.
The privatization of government’s power plants
is the remaining conditions under the Electric Power Industry Reform
Act of 2001.
But the length of time the government is taking
to sell these assets have led to calls for it to just to set these
requirements aside and let companies that acquired privatized plants
to participate in an interim open access.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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