First Gen, Iceland firm join forces for local geothermal projects

Lopez-owned First Gen Corp. has teamed up with Iceland-based Reykjavik Energy Invest (REI) to jointly explore geothermal opportunities within and outside the Philippines.

First Gen and REI intend to form a joint venture corporation to venture into greenfield projects as well as put up geothermal sites in the Philippines and overseas.

Owned by the Lopez family, First Gen is the leading independent power producer in the country with an installed capacity of 1,839 megawatts.

“First Gen’s experience as a power project developer and REI’s experience in exploring, harnessing and developing geothermal opportunities together make a formidable combination,” First Gen said in a statement.

REI chairman Bjarni Armannson, for his part, said the company is very pleased to join forces with First Gen. “We are confident that our partnership will create a strong platform to harness geothermal power in Southeast Asia.”

“The world demand for renewable energy is growing. We intend to utilize geothermal power, an environmentally-friendly and efficient source of energy to meet such demand. Having First Gen as a partner greatly supports our vision of creating a world-leading company in the geothermal industry,” said Armannson.

First Gen said the sale of the government’s remaining stake in  top geothermal power producer PNOC-EDC would be the first project the two parties will collaborate on.

“Our joint venture is currently focused on the purchase of the PNOC-EDC stake. First Gen’s experience in power generation will be coupled with REI’s special strengths in steamfield development and operations. We both hope to add to PNOC-EDC’s proven capabilities in geothermal energy,” said Peter D. Garrucho Jr., vice-chairman and chief executive officer of First Gen.

REI and GGE, another Iceland-based company which invests in geothermal projects around the world, announced a merger in early October this year. Both firms have a strong track record of joint projects and investments in international markets, including Europe, North and South America and Asia.

As this developed, the Alcantara-owned Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc. disclosed yesterday that it has partnered with AEI Investments Inc. in bidding for EDC shares.

The government expects to raise around P36 billion from the sale of its 60-percent stake in PNOC-EDC, consisting of six billion common and 7.5 billion preferred shares.

Fourteen out of 16 investors that have submitted requirements have already been prequalified by the government. There were originally 24 entities that signified interest in bidding for the EDC shares.