PSALM to bid out Malaya plant O&M

The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is bidding out the operation and maintenance service contract (OMSC) for the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya Thermal Power Plant in Rizal.

The state-run firm is soliciting bids to operate and maintain the power project for one year. PSALM manages the thermal power plant through an OMSC.

The contract has an approved budget of P264 million, to be sourced through the agency’s 2018 and 2019 corporate operating budgets.

Interested bidders are required to have completed a similar contract of operation and maintenance of either diesel, oil or coal-fired thermal power plant, with generation output delivered to a national grid.

PSALM said the bidding would be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion.

A pre-bid conference is set on May 2 while qualified bidders have until May 15 to submit their bids.

Located in Pililia, Rizal, the Malaya plant consists of a 300MW unit with a once-through type boiler and a 350-MW unit fitted with a conventional boiler.

It was last rehabilitated in 1995 by Korea Electric Power Corp. under a 15-year rehabilitate-operate-manage-maintain agreement.

The Malaya power plant was designated as a must run unit (MRU) by the Department of Energy (DOE) to address supply deficiency when operating power plants in the grid suddenly bog down or become unavailable.

It will operate as an MRU until the DOE finalizes its privatization schedule.