The winning bidder was named by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (Psalm) in November 2007, and the price offered was US$325M for the two plants in Beneguet province.
SN Power, of Norway, and local group Aboitiz have been working in joint venture on bids to the auction process. At the time of the auction the JV was noted as SN Aboitiz Power Hydro, and it was competing against First Gen Hydro Power Corp and Calaca Power Partners.
The 75MW Ambuklao plant was built in 1956 and has been inactive in recent years but headwater releases have continued to regulate flows to the 100MW Binga plant, completed in 1960 and which generates 360GWh annually.
Ambuklao is to be rehabilitated to have 65MW of operational capacity within seven years, and has said it plans to have a total installed capacity of 225MW between the two plants within a few years.
The JV - SN Aboitiz Power – financed the purchase of the plants through seller credit and a loan from Aboitiz.
It had previously acquired the 360MW Magat plant in the privatization process. Like at Magat, the owner of Ambuklao-Binga plans to sell the majority of output at peak periods.
Separately, a subsidiary of Aboitiz – Hedcor Sibulan – recently signed a loan for the 42.5MW Sibulan plant in The Philippines, which comprises two run-of-river projects. The plants are to be completed in a year after work started a year ago, and are designed to produce 212GWh annually.
SN Power is a 50:50 JV between Norwegian power utility Statkraft and Norfund, a Norwegian investor in emerging markets. The JV said it actively pursues carbon credits in all of its hydropower projects.
