By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
THE Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board on Friday voted to affirm CUC management’s disqualification of AP Energy LLC from a major solar-and-battery procurement project for Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, citing the company’s failure to submit three years of audited financial statements as required by the request for proposals.
CUC Chairman Allen Perez cast the lone dissenting vote. Board members Rufo Mafnas, Rebecca White, Miranda Manglona, and Rosemond Santos voted to uphold the disqualification.
After the decision was made, AP Energy managing member Perry Inos, Jr. issued a statement saying, “We followed the procurement regulations, and we continue to believe our proposal met the Phase One requirements as written. Given the significance of this project to the Commonwealth, we are not going to walk away from the process. We intend to proceed to the next level of appeal to ensure the procurement is applied fairly, consistently, and in a manner that protects competition and ratepayers. AP Energy remains committed to investing locally and delivering resilient, cost-effective energy solutions for the CNMI.”
The next level of appeal is through a civil proceeding in court.
During the meeting, Inos was allowed to address the board directly. He said AP Energy submitted five financial packages: one audited financial statement and four unaudited annual reports or financial statements for affiliates within their joint venture or special-purpose entity.
Inos said this met the RFP’s “or annual reports” option and therefore complied with the written requirements. He said AP Energy had raised questions and was waiting for an addendum to clarify the audited-versus-annual-report issue. Because no addendum was issued, the company believed it was entitled to rely on the original language.
He also argued that audited financial statements are not universally required for large private companies, and that AP Energy’s structure and bonding demonstrated sufficient financial capacity.
AP Energy had earlier filed a protest asking the board to reconsider its disqualification, arguing that the RFP was not properly applied. The company maintained that the RFP allowed proponents to submit “‘audited financial statements or annual reports,’” and that no addendum removed that option.
The board declined to move the appeal forward.
The procurement, CUC‑RFP‑25‑021, seeks independent power producers to design, finance, construct, own, operate, and maintain utility-scale solar photovoltaic systems with battery energy storage across Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. The project aims to replace aging diesel generators, reduce fuel dependence, stabilize long-term electricity costs, and increase renewable energy penetration while maintaining grid reliability.
In an earlier statement, CUC Executive Director Kevin Watson said a 20-megawatt solar farm with battery storage on Saipan is estimated to cost between $60 million and $90 million and could supply nearly half of the island’s current power demand.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
