PSALM to dispose two power barges this year

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is scheduled to dispose two power barges late this year. "So far, we are set to put in auction block Power Barges 101 and 104 by December 2010 to January 2011," PSALM vice-president for asset management and electricity trading, Conrad Tolentino, said. PSALM is an entity created under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to handle the privatization of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) assets. The two power barges— 101 to 104 — have a total capacity of 128 megawatts (MW). Aside from these power barges, the other Napocor power facilities yet to be disposed by PSALM include: * 982 MW Agus-Pulangi Hydroelectric complex * 850 MW Sucat thermal plant, and * 630 MW Malaya thermal plant. PSALM also has to bid out the contracted capacitities of the following: * 131.8 MW Naga power plant; * 559 MW Unified Leyte geothermal capacities; * 728 MW Caliraya-Botokan-Kalayaan hydro plants; * 100 MW Western Mindanao Power Corp.; * 50 MW Southern Philippines Power Corp.; * 200 MW Mindanao Coal plant; * 92.52 MW Mt Apo 1 and 2 geothermal project, and * 165 MW Casecnan hydropower plant. However, Tolentino said they do not expect the remaining big ticket items, such as Unified Leyte geothermal power and Naga power plant's contracts, to be privatized any time soon. The privatization of the contracted capacities were scheduled this year but have been opposed by some sectors. "(There is) no definite date so far for Unified Leyte and Naga," he said. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) earlier said it is not keen on pushing with the sale of the Agus-Pulangi power plants. PSALM has successfully sold 26 generating plants and five decommissioned plants. It also has successfully bid out 91.73 percent of the generating assets in the Luzon and Visayas grids. The agency also privatized 68.7 percent of the total contracted capacities of the Luzon and Visayas grids to independent power producer administrators. PSALM generated $3.467 billion from the sale of the assets and $3.23 billion from the IPP contracts. –VVP/OMG, GMANews.TV