DOE to okay 5 EDC geothermal contracts

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) is set to approve five more geothermal projects of Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the geothermal development unit of Lopez-led First Gen Corp.

Based on DOE data, EDC has pending application for some 110 megawatts (MW) worth of geothermal projects.

These five geothermal areas are: Mt. Ampiro in Misamis Occidental (30 MW), Balingasag, Misamis Occidental (20 MW); Lakewood in Negros Occidental (40 MW); Mandalagan in Negros Occidental (20 MW)) and Mt. Zion in North Cotabato (still to be determined capacity).

EDC earlier bagged the service contracts for the Mt. Labo in Camarines Norte and Mt. Mainit geothermal in Davao del Norte.

The company is aggressively improving its geothermal drilling capabilities to support its capacity expansion.

It recently purchased a new drilling rig worth P1 billion which will save the company about $40,000 a day.

EDC is the largest onshore drilling contractor in the Philippines as it has been exporting its drilling services since 1997.

It is also the largest geothermal producer in the country with an installed capacity of 1,149.4 MW, accounting for 60 percent of the country’s total geothermal capacity.

First Gen president Federico Lopez earlier said they are eyeing to spend around $1.5 billion for the expansion and construction of new power plants over the next three to five years.

“Some of them are rehabs -rehabs tend to be cheaper, expansion tends to be cheaper- greenfields like geothermal may be more expensive, so you can put a rule-of-thumb of about $1.5 million per MW or roughly $1.5 billion,” he said.

Lopez said they expect these expansion, rehab and construction program to add up about 1,000 MW to their capacity.

He said they are also eyeing to rehabilitate the 150-MW Bacon-Manito geothermal production field that would increase its capacity by 110 MW.

For greenfield or new projects, First Gen is planning to put up the 40-MW Tanawon and 50-MW Apo geothermal power plants; and the 116-MW Burgos wind farm.