SoKor firm remains O&M contractor for Malaya TPP

South Korean firm STX Marine Service Co. Ltd. has bagged anew the contract to operate and maintain the 650-megawatt (MW) Malaya Thermal Power Plant (TPP) in Rizal.

Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) awarded the operations and maintenance (O&M) contract for the plant, which will run from Aug. 25, 2017 to Aug. 25, 2018.

Part of STX Marine’s responsibilities are the day-today upkeep, management and maintenance or repair of the power plant and its equipment.

STX has been under O&M contract since 2014. Situated in Pililia, Rizal, the Malaya TPP consists of a 300-MW unit with a once-through type boiler and a 350-MW unit fitted with conventional boiler.

The 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 become unavailable.

It will operate as an MRU until its privatization schedule is finalized.

PSALM, the entity created by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) to privatize government-owned assets, earlier set the auction on March 8, 2017. The asset is being sold on an “as is, where is” basis.

The sale has been reset to March 30 and then deferred until further notice to take into consideration the DOE policy to ensure sufficiency of the power supply in the Luzon grid.

Earlier, PSALM officer-incharge Lourdes Alzona said the Malaya plant’s privatization will proceed this year to be able to close the sale in 2018.

She said they are just waiting the final word on the up- dated terms of reference to include the conversion provision of the power plant.

In the revised terms of reference, the winning bidder of the Malaya plant should convert it from diesel to coal or liquefied natural gas (LNG) to become a baseload plant, following the request of DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi.