First Gen eyes Casecnan IPP project

First Gen Corporation intends to bid for the administration of the independent power producer contract package that includes the 140-megawatt Casecnan hydroelectric power plant in Pantabangan, Nueva Vizcaya.

According to First Gen senior vice president Ernesto Pantangco, the company is interested in the Casecnan facility because it supplies water to 12-MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric power plant which they purchased three years ago.

Built in 11 December 2001, the Casecnan project collects water from the Casecnan and Taan Rivers and transports it through a 26-kilometer transbasin tunnel to the existing Pantabangan Reservoir.

The project also irrigates 35,000 hectares of agricultural lands and stabilises the water supply to 102,000 hectares of existing irrigated areas.

Pantangco said the company remained interested in the facility even if it was "a bit more complicated" compared to the other IPPs on the auction block. The Casecnan facility is among the IPPs that the state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) plans to offer to the private sector.

"In the case of Casecnan, there are a lot of concerns with regard to the existing contract with other entities like National Irrigation Administration. It’s not under the existing IPPA concept that we proposed," he said.

Pantangco pointed out that the Casecnan deal is a bit more complicated in terms of bidding out its contract since there are contractual obligations with NIA. "The IPPA can only own the power plant of Casecnan, the dam will have to be turned over to NIA, and all the contractual obligations will remain," said Pantangco.