Amlan Power Holdings Corporation and Strategic Power Development Corporation of San Miguel Corporation (SMC) were the declared highest bidders in the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) auction for the Bakun-Benguet and San Roque hydro power plants on Tuesday.

Amlan Power, a joint venture between Sta. Clara International and Vivant Group, bagged the 70-megawatt Bakun and 30-MW Benguet hydros for $145.473 million offer; while SMC group cornered the 345-MW San Roque plant at $450 million tender.

This is already the second IPP contract won by San Miguel, the first being the 1,200-MW Sual coal-fired power facility. The company has been forthright in its plans of building an ‘empire’ in the energy sector.

Five companies made it to the final round, including First Gen, Pacifica Inc. and Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation.

The bidding stretched beyond 6 p.m. and it was among the longest of the auction processes ever undertaken by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation.

Each bidder had to submit two envelopes for their financial bids.
The Bakun and Benguet plants were lumped as a package, while San Roque was treated as stand-alone asset.

“PSALM will verify the accuracy, authenticity, and completeness of the bid documents submitted by SPDC and APHC before issuing a Notice of Award formally declaring the two companies as the winning IPPAs,” the privatization company noted.

As per prescribed bidding rules, “the participating bidders have to bid for all three hydro power facilities and can win as many as they can.”

It has been emphasized that “any bidder who will submit an offer for only one of the contracted capacities will be disqualified.” It was further noted that a joint bid for any of the contracted capacities will not be authorized.

This is already the second round of IPPA bidding for the power supply contracts of state-run National Power Corporation (NPC) which has been prescribed for privatization under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.