First Gen Corp. of the Lopez Group said Monday it saved on costs and time from building a new power plant by acquiring the 165-megawatt Casecnan Hydroelectric Power Plant in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija.
First Gen, through Fresh River Lakes Corp., won the bid for the Casecnan power plant with its $526-million offer, above the government’s minimum bid price.
“From the perspective of First Gen, building a similar hydro plant from scratch would have been more expensive and would have required a lengthy preparation time of up to seven—if not more years for planning, designing, permitting and construction,” said First Gen senior vice president and head of hydro group Dennis Gonzales.
“Our winning offer, therefore, helped the company save on cost and precious time to construct a similar hydro project,” Gonzales said.
The government, through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.(PSALM) and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), turned over the ownership and operation of the Casecnan power plant to FRLC.
PSALM and NIA personnel formally handed over the operations of the Casecnan hydro facilities to First Gen after the latter secured all regulatory permits and remitted payment for the purchase of the power plant on Friday.
The sale of the Casecnan power plant to First Gen—the largest privatization of a state power asset so far under the Marcos administration, underwent stringent evaluation and review from various government agencies, all of which gave their respective approvals by January 2024 to facilitate the smooth turnover of the power plant.
First Gen also acquired the switchyard, the administration complex, guest house and some roads of the facility.
Meanwhile, ownership of the non-power components of Casecnan such as the irrigation facilities, the weir and the tunnel, remains with the government, through NIA and PSALM.
The use of these non-power facilities is governed by separate operations and maintenance agreements between FRLC and NIA on one hand, and the former with PSALM on the other.
First Gen also owns the 132-MW Pantabangan-Masiway Hydro-Electric Power Plant (PHEPP), a storage hydropower plant with a dam and reservoir located close to Casecnan.
It is also constructing the 120-MW Aya pumped storage hydro project in Pantabangan, on top of other run-of-river hydro projects in Mindanao.