NPS demands explanation for disqualification on IPP bid
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National Power Supply (NPS) has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to explain why it did not pass the qualification round of tendering for independent power producers (IPPs), and requested that the next round set for next month be delayed until
NPS president Sittiporn Ratanopas said the company wrote to the ERC yesterday seeking clarifications as to why it did not meet the prerequisites.
The ERC reasoned that NPS’s two proposed IPP projects would require a volume of natural gas that exceeded PTT’s supply capacity of 100 million cubic feet per day. Sittiporn said NPS was aware of this fact but by the time its IPP starts producing power, expected in five years’ time, PTT would have completed its second-phase gas pipeline extension, which would be able to supply enough gas for NPS’s plants.
While the ERC questioned NPS’s experience in running major IPPs and its funding source, the company previously stated that it would link up with a Chinese business partner with verifiable experience with several natural-gas-powered power plants. Moreover, NPS has established funding sources for the projects.
Hence ERC’s justifications for deciding that NPS failed to meet the bidding prerequisites needs clarification, Sittiporn said.
He added that for the sake of transparency, the ERC should postpone the next round, when bidding prices are revealed, scheduled for next month until this case is clear.
Palapa Reungrong, director of the ERC, said the commission had yet to receive NPS’s request for clarification.
It is the role of a subcommittee to review NPS’s complaint.
The companies that passed the IPP bidding prerequisites were Egco Group, Gulf Power Generation and Glow Energy.
