Manila Electric Co. subsidiary Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), initially interested, has dropped its bid to acquire the Caliraya–Botocan–Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power plant complex in Laguna that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) aims to sell through public bidding.
Emmanuel Rubio, MGen president and chief executive officer, told reporters the decision arose from the difficulty of assessing the value of the property made more complex by the government’s Green Energy Auction Program or GEAP.
“When I joined MGen, we had limited resources and today we still have a limited portfolio that should provide value for CBK and make it competitive. We decided not to proceed with that. Let the others with a bigger portfolio” pursue the privatization, Rubio said.
The CBK delivers 796.64 MW of contracted power generated by three separate hydro facilities and run by independent power producer CBK Power Co. Ltd. under a 25-year build–rehabilitate–operate–transfer contract that expires in 2026.
As a pumped storage hydropower facility, reservoir water spins a turbine that produces the electricity made possible from the difference in reservoir elevation.
MGen said valuing the CBK property and sale has proven more difficult to undertake given the GEAP rounds involving pumped-storage hydro projects.
The GEAP and pump storage technologies are both clean and renewable energy sources that make it difficult to value the CBK, Rubio reiterated.
In March this year, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation’s goal had been to sell the CBK hydroelectric power plant complex.
As secretary of the Department of Finance, Recto is also chairman of the board at PSALM tasked with privatizing power-related government assets.
Privately-owned MGen makes use of coal, liquified natural gas, diesel and solar technology to generate capacity totaling 2,425 MW.
