THE Department of Energy (DoE) said on Friday that two power firms, which submitted bids for hydropower projects under a competitive selection process, filed motions for reconsideration shortly after failing to comply with documentary requirements during the opening of bids.

Total Power, Inc. (TPI) and Century Peak Energy Corp. (CPEC) submitted a total of eight bids for various hydro projects on Feb. 15, but were not allowed to move forward to the next stage of the bidding. This was the result of the opening of the third open and competitive selection process (OCSP3) bids, which took place last Monday.

The DoE gave the two companies until Feb. 18 to file for a motion for reconsideration. On Friday, DoE Renewable Energy Management Bureau Director Mylene C. Capongcol said that the department had already received their petitions.

“Both TPI and CPEC were able to file their respective MRs (motions for reconsideration) before the set deadline. Their MRs will be evaluated if their submissions warrant reconsideration by the Committee,” Ms. Capongcol told BusinessWorld in an e-mail.

She clarified that TPI and CPEC submitted MRs to their earlier bids, and that the committee hoped to finish the evaluations “as soon as possible.”

TPI submitted bids for the 3.2-megawatts (MW) Plant A and 0.8-MW Plant C of the Amlan hydroelectric power project, and the 2.1-MW Tibao project.

Meanwhile, CPEC applied for the upper (4.8 MW) and lower (3 MW) cascade of the Hilabangan project; the upper (4.5 MW) and lower cascade (3.1 MW) of Maninila; and the middle cascade (4 MW) of the Sibalom hydro project.

On Monday, the department announced that it had received 13 applications for 11 pre-determined areas (PDAs), out of the 22 PDAs under the OCSP3.

The DoE earlier announced that three of the five PDAs covering geothermal projects had offers from eligible firms that were allowed to move on to the next stage of the bidding process. These are Energy Development Corp., Philippine Geothermal Production Co., Inc., and Mase Power Corp.

The next stage of the OCPS3 is the evaluation of legal, technical and financial requirements, which the DoE targets to complete on March 2. The awarding of RE contracts is on April 14, according to the department’s press release issued Tuesday.

Geothermal and hydro projects under the OCSP3 have a total potential capacity of around 177 MW. — Angelica Y. Yang

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