Ahunan Power Inc., a subsidiary of Razon-led Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc., has proposed a power supply agreement (PSA) with the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to deliver 500 megawatts of mid-merit power capacity from a pumped storage hydropower facility.
In a statement to the media, Ahunan conveyed that it was already accorded "original proponent" (OP) status for that targeted capacity off-take (capacity purchase) that could be sealed prospectively with the country’s biggest power utility company.
The Razon-led firm indicated that Meralco, via the third party bids and awards committee (TPBAC) of its competitive selection process (CSP), upheld the OP stature of Ahunan – hence, the offer can already be subjected to a competitive tendering by the utility firm.
“Ahunan's offer is subject to competitive challenge under the rules of the Department of Energy, with Ahunan having the right to match any comparative proposals,” Prime Infra emphasized.
On the delivery of the proposed mid-merit capacity, Ahunan had nominated two pumped storage hydro plants to generate the committed electricity volume – one is its planned installation in Laguna which is currently under pre-development stage; and the other will be the integrated hydropower component of the Wawa hydro project in Rizal province, which is also under pre-development phase in collaboration with its partner-firm under corporate vehicle Olympia Violago Water & Power Inc. (OVWPI).
Ahunan said it already entered into agreement “to acquire a controlling interest in OVWPI.” At this stage, Ahunan and OVWPI already cornered total hydro service contracts of 1,200MW with estimated net dependable capacity of 500MW.
Enrique K. Razon, Jr., chairman of Prime Infra, asserted that his company “looks forward to the opportunity of further providing renewable energy sources that are reliable and sustainable.”
The blueprinted hydropower project with battery storage installation is separate from the Terra Solar venture that had been proposed earlier, which also targets to supply 850MW of mid-merit power to Meralco to include the installation of at least 3,500MW of solar plus 4,500-megawatt hours of energy storage systems.
Mid-merit power supply refers to the generated electricity with a capacity factor that can meet system demand between baseload generation and the peaking facilities. These plants are also well regarded for their flexibility in keeping up with demand fluctuation in the grid.
On the company’s proposed pumped storage hydro development, Prime Infra President and CEO Guillaume Lucci stated that “this project is a testament to our goal of integrating ESG (environmental, social and governance) in the critical infrastructure assets that we deliver.”
He stressed “Prime Infra will continue to pioneer energy and other infrastructure projects that are environmentally resilient and socially relevant.”