Philippines to postpone sale of hydropower plants

The Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that it wants to defer the privatization of the 150 MW Casecnan and the 728 MW Caliraya-Botocan-Kalayaan (CBK) hydropower plants - thereby passing the decision on to the next administration.

The two projects are located in Laguna and have sparked the interest of many power companies. However, the Philippine government has revealed that the privatization of the CBK supply contract may not occur during President Aquino's administration.

By granting security and regulatory power to the state, the CBK hydropower plant proved to be an instrumental government asset throughout the Luzon power supply crisis in July 2014. As a result, the current administration is hesitant when it comes to privatizing the project.

The Energy Secretary of the Philippines, Carlos Jericho Petilla, commented:

"I still feel that Kalayaan (CBK) should not be privatized. It's the only power asset left which the government can use to defend rates in the industry in times of uncertainty or power shortage. They are assets that can be used for regulating, security and all those things."

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. is the Philippine government's corporation tasked with the privatization of state-owned power assets. Based on PSALM's target, privatization of CBK's supply contract will take place in the second half of 2016, with possible awarding by early 2017.

We have recently reported about several hydropower projects globally:

• 17.4 MW C.H. Yarucaya hydroelectric plant - Peru
• 22 MW Jamie Creek hydroelectric power station - Canada
• 720 MW Karot Hydroelectric project - Pakistan
• Upper Collinsville Dam hydroelectric project in Canton - USA
• 15 MW Tahumming River hydroelectric project - Canada
• 370 MW Lysebotn 2 hydroelectric power station - Norway