MGen may revisit bid for CBK hydro plants
Pangilinan-led Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) may revive its interest in the privatization of the massive Laguna hydropower complex after the government opted to put it on direct asset sale.
Emmanuel Rubio, president and chief executive officer of MGen, last week told reporters that the group’s decision would depend on how state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) would package the 796.64-megawatt (MW) Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydroelectric power plant complex.
MGen, the power generation arm of distribution giant Manila Electric Co., was one of the 28 companies that expressed interest in the power plants.
Other players that previously showed an interest to participate in the bidding were SN Aboitiz Power Corp., First Gen Corp., ACEN Corp., and Citicore Renewable Energy Corp.
However, in August 2024, MGen decided to abandon the race to give way to players with even bigger portfolios.
The bidding was initially set in November, but this got pushed back to April of this year due to delays in the issuance of the price determination methodology for the third round of green energy auction.
Last month, Psalm said the facility involved is now up for full privatization, compared to the previous decision to put it under the arrangement of an independent power purchase agreement.
Last Friday, Psalm is again soliciting proposals from the private sector.
Currently, the CBK plant complex is under a build-rehabilitate-operate-transfer and power purchase agreement between the CBK Power Co. Ltd. and the National Power Corp. for 25 years or until February 2026.
