Bids due for MacGen

Indicative bids are due later this month for NSW’s Macquarie Generation, after which the final sale of the two coal-fired power stations with a book value of $A2 billion could be completed by the end of March.

The Australian reports Brisbane-based ERM Power, China’s Shenhua Group and Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding may put forward indicative bids for the Liddell and Bayswater power stations in NSW’s Hunter Valley.

The paper says an assessment of indicative bids will be made at the end of this month, after which a final list of bidders will be decided.

The NSW government hopes to get more than the book value for the two assets.

The federal government moving to repeal the carbon tax can only help with that.

The Clampett cut

Remember the song about a man named Jed? The poor mountaineer who could barely keep his family fed? Well replace bubbling crude for CSG and a little bit of that story might be true for Victorian farmers.

The Australian Financial Review reports that Victorian farmers may win the right to royalty payments from CSG developers under a proposal to be put to the Victorian government by its taskforce on the issue.

The taskforce, led by former Howard government minister Peter Reith, is finally reporting to Premier Denis Napthine.

The traditional system in Australia is that farmers receive payments for land access and some compensation associated with the mining activity – not a royalty as such.

The AFR quotes newly elected Nationals Member of Parliament Andrew Broad as saying the idea deserved serious consideration.

“We don’t want to be like the Beverley Hillbillies … that is not what we want with CSG. But farmers are a business, they are fairly pragmatic,” he said.

“Giving them a percentage or a discussion of a percentage around royalties is a policy discussion we would like to hear more about.”

Philippines “green” coal bid

A provincial council in the Philippines has approved a bid by a US company to build a 1.2 billion peso ($A295 million) plant in Pangasinan to convert rubbish to “green” coal.

According to the Manila Standard Today the province will provide a seven hectare lot for the plant that will be capable of producing about 1000 tonnes of environmentally friendly fuel.

Regional governor Amado Espino has been authorised to enter into a joint venture with US company Integrated Green Technology Visays over the project.

Pangasinan hosts a power plant in Sual that uses 65,000t of coal a week.