Power plant to resume operations

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines   — The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) has assured Negrenses that the shutdown of its Northern Negros Geothermal Project (NNGP) plant in Bago City was only temporary, and it will resume operations soon.

The resumption of operations will depend on the result of a technical study to re-assess resources size and permeability, EDC assistant vice president for resource management Noel Salonga said Wednesday.

Maxino and Salonga appeared at the session of the Negros Occidental Provincial Board on Wednesday to explain their plant's temporary shutdown.

While waiting for the results, EDC continues with its environmental activities and other aspects of corporate social responsibility (CSR), said Dwight Maxino, EDC vice president for Negros Island. "We can not leave the people behind," he said.

EDC temporarily shut down its geothermal plant at Brgy. Mailum in Bago City, in November last year, to pave the way for additional technical studies to make it viable for commercial use.

This Bago plant was expected to produce about 40 megawatts of power, but before it shut down, it only had 7-megawatt output which it was selling to the Iloilo Electric Cooperative I.

PB Member Miller Serondo reminded the two EDC officials that their company made a commitment with the provincial government to produce 40 megawatts of power by 2011 in exchange for entering the Mt. Kanlaon National Park buffer zone.

"But now that you haven't, and instead temporarily shut down the plant, how will we explain it to our people?" Serondo asked. 

Salonga said the EDC has commissioned Geothermal Science from the United States and GNS Science from New Zealand, both of which found out that the "area (in Bago City) is challenging and therefore needs further evaluation and geophysical survey."

Maxino said the study is expected to be completed in October. When asked if after the study they construct another geothermal drilling well into the buffer zone, Maxino said, "Yes, we might drill another well in the buffer zone that is designated for us. But it depends on the results of the study, maybe two or three additional wells."

Asked if they can assure a production of 40 megawatts after the study, Maxino said: "We are on study mode, after the study we will know that. We cannot really assure that, not unless we get that study. But the resources are down below, we cannot see it, we can only estimate it. The resource is there and we just have to find it where it is."

He also said that should they operate again, the development for the new geothermal well and the connection to it might require about another two years.

Maxino added that EDC is spending P150 million a year in its activities in the geothermal plant, including the continued environmental and livelihood activities despite the temporary shutdown.

"EDC continues to comply with the stringent conditions set by the local government of Negros Occidental in 2008. The company has planted a total of 160,000 trees on 400 hectares to replace the 12.5 hectares used in the 169-hectare buffer zone allocated for geothermal within the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park," EDC said in a press statement.

"Local residents from EDC's host communities in Brgy. Mailum in Bago City and Brgy. Minoyan in Murcia town were hired for its unskilled labor requirements with a total of P12.5 million worth of contracts awarded to local contractors to generate jobs for them from July 2008 to December 2010," it added.

"EDC also remains steadfast to its commitment to its host communities. The company's health, education, and livelihood and environmental programs had benefited almost 10,000 beneficiaries in Mailum and Minoyan. EDC will continue to implement this program in 2011 and for the duration of the project," it added. (FREEMAN)