THE UNITS of San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and ACEN Corp. will undergo post-qualification evaluation after Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) identified their bids as the most competitive for a 500-megawatt (MW) renewable energy (RE) supply contract.
San Roque Hydropower, Inc. (SRHI), Gigasol3, Inc., and Santa Cruz Solar Energy, Inc. (SCSEI) submitted their qualification documents, technical proposal, and bid price, Meralco said in a statement on Thursday.
SRHI offered the lowest rate of P7.10 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for 340 MW of the total requirement. SRHI, formerly known as Strategic Power Development Corp., is a subsidiary of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp., the power arm of SMC.
Gigasol submitted a rate of P8.1819 per kWh for 139 MW of the requirement, while SCSEI covered the remaining 21 MW requirement at a rate of P8.1998 per kWh. Both Gigasol3 and SCSEI are subsidiaries of ACEN under the Ayala Group.
Meralco stated that all offers received were below the reserve price of P8.2380 per kWh set for the bidding.
The government requires distribution utilities to choose the cheapest electricity supply.
“The submissions underwent a very stringent pass/fail completeness assessment and pre-qualification evaluation,” the power distributor said.
The bids and awards committee will conduct a post-qualification evaluation and submit its recommendation and report to Meralco’s board of directors for approval to the issuance of notices of award, the company added.
“As a highly regulated entity, Meralco has conducted its business in full compliance with the rules and regulations issued by the ERC and DoE,” Meralco Bids and Awards Committee Chairman Lawrence S. Fernandez said.
The 10-year power supply agreement resulting from the competitive selection process will cover Meralco’s 350-MW mid-merit requirement starting February 2025 and will increase by 150 MW starting February 2026.
Meralco said it has already contracted 1,880 MW of renewable energy capacity from various suppliers — surpassing its initial target of 1,500 MW.
Renewable energy is expected to account for 22% of its supply portfolio by 2030.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.
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