Bids for new power plants to begin at end of this month

Authorities plans to open a new round of bidding around the end of May for independent power producers (IPPs) in an effort to generate a total of 4,200 megawatts of electricity between 2007 and 2009, an official at the Energy Commission (能源會) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. The invitation for IPP projects will be the fourth of its kind.

According to the official, applications that propose to sell power to the state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) at the lowest prices will be accepted. The power generation projects will be separated into two batches -- 1,000 megawatts installed capacity in 2007, and a total of 3,200 megawatts for 2008 and 2009 combined.

The first batch will be opened only for power generation fueled by natural gas and will be required to be based in the northern part of Taiwan.

These bids will be accepted for a six-month period.

Meanwhile, the second batch of projects can utilize any kind of fuel for power generation, and the bidding period will be 18 months.

"However, the quota for installed capacity opened for the second batch is only tentative. There may be changes if the state-run Taipower plans to build its own power plant," the official said.

Interested bidders are required to have fully completed environmental assessment reports, obtained agreements with the local governments, and have in place fuel agreements, power transmission plans, funding agreements, a breakdown of power charges when submitting their applications, the official said.

He said that the Energy Commission is expected to submit the proposal to the Cabinet around May 20 for approval, and will formally announce the guidelines thereafter.