Local news in the Philippines talk about that EDC (owned by FirstGen) “intends to bid for contracts to manage the Bacon-Manito (BacMan) power plants and the Unified Leyte geothermal power plants.

“We are looking at areas where we are right now. We are eyeing, maybe BacMan power plants and Unified Leyte geothermal plants’ independent power producer administrator (IPPA),” First Gen Corp. President Federico Lopez said at the sidelines of the company’s special stockholders’ meeting.

State-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is set to auction the independent power producer administrator (IPPA) contracts of the said plants next year.

PSALM has scheduled the BacMan plant as one of the first assets to be sold by PSALM next year, but not the Unified Leyte plants.

“Generally, we’re looking at achieving 70% IPPAs by the first quarter of 2010. Whether Unified Leyte will be part of that is subject to evaluation,” PSALM Vice President Conrad Tolentino said.

The Unified Leyte plants include the 125-megawatt Upper Mahiao plant, the 232-MW Malitbog and the 180-MW Mahanagdong plants, and the 51-MW Optimization plants. These are currently operated by Energy Development Corp. (EDC), a wholly-owned unit of First Gen.

EDC also owns the BacMan Geothermal Production Field (BGPF) in Sorsogon and supplies steam to the BacMan power plants, which have a total capacity of 150 MW. The BacMan plants are currently run by National Power Corp. (Napocor).

First Gen reported a net income of $7 million during the first 9 months of the year, an 85% drop from the $45.8 million recorded in the same period in 2008.

The company attributed the decline to a one-time, non-cash writedown of the deferred tax assets of EDC, following the implementation of the Renewable Energy Act in January 2009.”

Source: ABS CBN News (Philippines)