The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) Wednesday (10 December 2008) declared ICS Renewables Inc. as the highest bidder in the government’s final sale schedule for the year: the second round of bidding for the 0.8-megawatt (MW) Amlan Hydroelectric Power Plant.

ICS Renewables offered USD230,000 for the Visayas-based hydropower facility. The winning bid exceeded the reserve price set by the PSALM Board for the generating asset.

ICS Renewables is a newly-incorporated, Filipino-owned company engaged in the manufacture of alternative fuels. The firm is also involved in acquiring, developing, owning, leasing, subleasing, operating and managing real and personal property of every kind and description, including but not limited to, properties using alternative fuels and other environment-friendly device or equipment.

ICS Renewables will be declared the winning bidder of the Amlan plant as soon as PSALM has verified the accuracy, authenticity and completeness of the bid documents that the company had submitted. PSALM will then issue the Notice of Award to formally notify ICS Renewables as the winning bidder.

With the sale of the Amlan hydro plant, PSALM closed the government’s power privatization program for 2008 on a positive note as it successfully bid out more than its targeted 70% of the National Power Corporation’s generating assets in the Luzon and Visayas grids. PSALM achieved its privatization goal for this year after successfully selling the 146.5-MW Panay and 22-MW Bohol power plant package last 12 November.

Located in Sitio Pasalan, Bgy. Silab, Amlan, Negros Oriental, the Amlan plant is the first power facility to be constructed in the province. It is designed to operate as a base-load plant, supplying power to the town of Amlan and nearby villages.

The Amlan power plant was first bid out on 23 July 2008. The bidding was declared a failure as only one bidder — Sta. Clara International Corp., which won the 1.2-MW Loboc Hydroelectric Power Plant bid in November 2004 — was prepared to submit a bid.