By Alena Mae S. Flores

Listed Aboitiz Power Corp. plans to bid for three power plants of National Power Corp. set to be put in the auction block within the first half of the year.

Aboitiz Power said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that it submitted letters of interest to Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. to join the bidding of the 55-megawatt Naga gas turbine power plant in 100-MW Power Barge 117 and 100-MW Power Barge 118.

The Naga facility, located at the Cebu I Power Plant Complex in Barrio Colon, Naga, Cebu province, is scheduled for bidding on April 22.

PSALM will bid out PB 117, located in Barangay Sta. Ana, Nasipit, Agusan del Norte on April 15.

The agency, meanwhile, offered investors PB 118 last month but did not declare a winning bidder. PSALM has not declared a failed bidding on PBB 118, which is located in Barangay San Roque, Maco, Compostela Valley.

?Aboitiz Power, on its own... or with strategic partners, plans to participate in the upcoming bids for the privatization of the government?s power assets,? it said.

Aboitiz Power is also considering to bid for the 112.5-MW Tongonan geothermal plant in Leyte province and the 192-MW Palinpinon geothermal plant in Negros Oriental.

PSALM plans to sell the Tongonan facility by August and the Palinpinon power plant in July.

?Aboitiz Power also intends to participate in PSALM?s public auction for the independent power producer administrator contracts, which involves the transfer of the management and control of total energy output of power plants under contract with Napocor to the IPP administrators,? the company said.

Aboitiz Power officials earlier expressed interest to participate in the bidding for the administrators of the IPP contracts of the 700-MW Pagbilao coal plant in Quezon and 1,000-MW Sual in Pangasinan.

The Aboitiz Group is one of the biggest stakeholders in the power industry with investments in power generation and distribution across the country.

Aboitiz Power Corp. earlier reported a net income of P4.3 billion in 2008, up 4 percent from P4.2 billion in 2007, on higher power sales.

Aboitiz Power said the higher income translated into an earnings-per-share of P0.59 for the year.

The company sold 1,728 gigawatt-hours of power last year from 1,018 GwH to reflect 2007 acquisitions.