THE Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) power plant will be auctioned off in April by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (Psalm) following a delay, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.
CBK is a 796.64-megawatt (MW) hydroelectric power plant complex operated by independent firm CBK Power Co. Ltd. in Laguna. It has a 25-year build-rehabilitate-operate-transfer contract with state-owned National Power Corp. that will expire in 2026.
It includes the 39.37-MW Caliraya hydroelectric power plant in Lumban, 22.91-MW Botocan hydroelectric power plant in Majayjay and the 366-MW Kalayaan I and 368.36-MW Kalayaan II pumped storage power plants in Laguna.
The auction’s delay was due to the late approval of the price determination methodology from the third round of the Green Energy Auction Program (GEA-3), following the Ombudsman’s temporary suspension of Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman and CEO Monalisa Dimalanta in October.
“There was a concern from the Department of Finance on how to maximize the privatization value of CBK, which will be based on the price methodology… The commission has [discussed] this and the price determination methodology for GEA-3 has been approved,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla told reporters on Monday.
Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said “the reason GEA-3 influenced the [auction] schedule is because it will determine how much the price is per kilowatt-hour for the new pumped-storage hydro technologies that are coming. CBK is also a pumped-storage hydro, but it’s an old one, and its pricing will be estimated depending on the new technologies.”
Last July, Psalm said that representatives from five entities — Marubeni Corp., Semirara Mining and Power Corp., the Thunder consortium (comprised of Aboitiz Renewables, Electric Power Development and Sumitomo Corp.), First Gen Prime Energy Corp. and Giga Ace 11 — had participated in a pre-proposal conference for the CBK auction.
The government expects to generate P100 billion in revenues from CBK’s privatization.
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