PSIREN

Since late 2009, multisectoral groups -- including unions from state-owned National Power Corporation (NPC), consumers federation, electric coops and private utilities in Mindanao (Philippines) -- have geared up their campaign to oppose the privatization of Agus-Pulangui hydropower plants in Mindanao, the last remaining "crown jewel" of NPC.
 
At the height of multi-sectoral protests against the enactment of a law that would restructure the Philippine power sector and privatize National Power Corporation (NPC), NPC unions (NECU / NPC Employees Consolidated Union and NEWU / NPC Employees and Workers Union) were at the forefront of the campaign. In July 2001, NECU petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent the implementation of the newly-enacted Electric Power Industry Restructuring Act (EPIRA) arguing that the law was unconstitutional because, among others, it impaired employees’ security of tenure and it allowed corporations to develop the country’s natural resources such as geothermal and hydropower without co-arrangements with the state. NEWU argued that indigenous energy sources should not be privatized as they are part of the country’s national patrimony and should be protected from foreign ownership.
 

19 Oct 2009 - SPC Power Corporation today acquired the 55-megawatt (MW) Naga Land-Based Gas Turbine (LBGT) Power Plant after concluding negotiations with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation. The Naga facility is the seventh operating power plant successfully sold by PSALM in 2009. In bagging its third power asset, SPC agreed to match the reserve price of USD1.008 million (USD1,008,000.00) set by the PSALM Board for the Cebu-based power plant. The company’s initial offer was USD429,488.00.

In November 2008, SPC Power Corp (Salcon Power) bought three NPC (National Power Corporation) plants in the Visayas (146MW Panay I & III and 22MW Bohol Diesel) for a total US$5.86M, paying the purchase price in full. The plants were turned over to subsidiary Salcon Island Power Corporation (SIPC) in March 2009 despite a deferment sought by local officials.

In 2008, KEPCO Philippines Holdings (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Co or KEPCO) went into joint venture with Salcon Power and formed KEPCO SPC Power Corp (KSPC) to construct and operate a 200MW coal power plant in Naga, Cebu. In June 2008, SPC Power Corp obtained a $100M loan from Korean Export-Import Bank (Korean Eximbank) for the coal-fired project. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is also set to approve a US$120M loan to KSPC for the construction of the Naga coal-fired plant (“Visayas Base Load Power Project”).
 

SPC Power Corp (SPC) is owned by the Salcon Consortium, which entered into a 15-year agreement with National Power Corporation (NPC) in March 1994 for the rehabilitation and operation of the 203.8-megawatt Naga Power Complex in Colon, Naga City, Cebu.