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MANILA - The Alcantara Group is set to take over the Iligan diesel-fired power plant from Iligan City after the Commission on Audit cleared the sale of the facility, the Department of Energy said on Friday.
Undersecretary Josefina Patricia M. Asirit said COA has approved the transfer of the 100-megawatt power plant to Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. subject to certain conditions.
"Okay na, sold. Pero may requirement lang ang COA. One area is on ownership and the inclusions on the sale like off-site facilities. There was also a question on the cost. We asked Iligan City to justify," she said.
ACRI is the listed holding firm of the Alcantaras, who have interests in power generation, aquaculture and agribusiness, real property development and services.
ACRI topped the Iligan City bidding for the diesel plant in 2011. The local government unit sequestered the facility from state-owned National Power Corp. for non-payment of real property taxes.
Asirit did not indicate when the facility will be turned over to the company, but said the government recognizes "the opportunity cost of waiting for the approval."
The resumption of the operations of the 100-megawatt Iligan plant is one of the stop-gap measures the government is banking on to ease Mindanao's power shortage.
Parts of the region have been suffering from regular power interruptions as a result of insufficient generating capacity.
Asirit said the agency is hoping the Iligan plant will be operational in time for the DOE proposed Interim Mindanao Electricity Market, a trading platform for electricity similar to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, which allows buyers to bypass bilateral supply contracts and hasten dispatch of electricity from the facility.
"Kapag bilaterals, may Energy Regulatory Commission approvals needed," Asirit said, referring to the regulatory process that supply contracts have to go through before they take effect.
The IMEM was earlier proposed by Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras to Malacanang as a means to help shore up power supply in Mindanao.
"We are looking at some interim market mechanisms ,which will be put in place hopefully before the end fo the year," he said.
Unlike the WESM in Luzon and the Visayas, which caters to wholesale supply and whose rates are driven by market forces, the IMEM proposal aims to provide power companies a venue where they can offer their available generating capacities as needed by electric cooperatives and private electricity distributors.
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