Fort Pilar Energy Inc., the winning negotiating party that submitted the highest offer at P3.125 billion for the 650-megawatt Malaya Thermal Power Plant and its land, said Tuesday it plans to transform the project into a "modern energy facility."
Fort Pillar chief executive Joseph Omar Castillo said the company was excited to win the bid for the Malaya thermal plant.
"Our company, Fort Pilar Energy Inc., places great value on the strategic location of this plant that lies at the very heart of the Luzon grid," he said.
"The Malaya plant further bolsters the growing energy asset portfolio of Fort Pilar Energy. Similar to our earlier investments, we envision a modern energy facility in the site to strengthen the power situation in Luzon," Castillo said.
He said Fort Pilar was looking forward to closing the sale for the plant with the Power Sector Assets and Liabiltiies Management Corp. to boost government funds for many COVID relief projects.
"We are cognizant that our bid of P3.125 billion will not only help pay the stranded debts of Napocor but also provide fresh funding for the government," he said.
Established in 2019, Fort Pilar Inc. is run by highly-experienced technical professionals and personnel with strong backbone in the energy industry, according to Castillo.
It aims to facilitate rural development and boost industrialization by modernizing the Philippine electrical system – particularly the stability and quality of power in the rural areas.
Fort Pilar Energy invested more than P5 billion in energy storage facilities in the Zamboanga peninsula to help address the voltage issues in the area.
These energy storage facilities, with a total installed capacity of over 100 megawatt-hours, are expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2022.
Fort Pilar also plans to build modern multi-fuel power generators running on high efficiency and low emission technologies to improve power stability in Mindanao.
PSALM earlier said the Fort Pilar’s offer surpassed the minimum offer price of P1,845,222,000 that was set by the PSALM board for the Malaya negotiated sale process.
“After several attempts to privatize MTPP the last two years, we are very happy to have finally received financial bids substantially above our minimum offer price,” PSALM president and chief executive Irene Besido-Garcia said.
The other qualified negotiating party, AC Energy Corp., submitted an offer amounting to P2.22 billion.