EPI firms up plan to put up Mindoro geothermal plant

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino-owned renewable energy company Emerging Power Inc. (EPI) has moved a step closer in its plan to produce geothermal power after successfully conducting exploration drilling of its well pads in Oriental Mindoro.

EPI is putting up the 40-megawatt Montelago geothermal power project in 2017.

“We are pleased by the success of our exploration drilling work in Nauhan. It shows we have the geothermal resources needed to produce close to our target of 40 MW power,” EPI chairman Antonio Zamora said.

He said with one more geothermal plant rising, the country is well on its way to becoming one of the world’s leading sources of clean geothermal power.

EPI tapped the expertise of Quest Exploration Drilling (QED-Philippines) Inc. to help in the initial drilling stage of its $185-million geothermal plant in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.

Zamora said QED, working with the Iceland Geosurvey (ISOR) and the Magister Geothermal Program of the Institute Teknologi Bandung as geothermal consultants, undertook diggings of two small holes.

One hole is up to 1,200 meters while the other is 1,250 meters deep.

“We were able to start flow testing last Wednesday. Because of this successful small hole drilling, EPI expects to award the production well drilling soon,” Zamora said.

Antonie de Wilde, the Dutch chief technical officer of EPI, said based on flow testing, the earlier assessment of a reservoir with the capacity to generate a minimum of 35 to 40 MW, is now confirmed with actual measured data.

EPI commenced drilling work last year at EPI’s well pads in barangays Montelago, Montemayor and Melgar-B in the municipality of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro following the Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of its power supply agreement (PSA) with power distributors in Oriental and Occidental Mindoro.

The planned geothermal plant is expected to result in as much as P2.1 billion in savings or by 40 percent from P11 per kilowatt-hour to P6.58 per kwh in electricity bills that the people of Mindoro will pay in four years’ time, Zamora said.

Its service provider, QED-Philippines, provides drilling services from 500 to 1,800 meters diamond coring and prides itself on providing professional performance to power industries in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Indonesia.

Another consultant, Magister Geothermal Program of the Institute Teknologi Bandung in Indonesia, meanwhile, provides technical support and expertise for geothermal exploration, development and utilization in Indonesia and all over the world.

Aside from the geothermal plant, EPI is also eyeing a 10-MW solar project in Camarines Sur, a 2.5-MW biogas project in Quezon City, and a 10-MW solar and bunker hybrid project in Northern Palawan.