EDC to produce 20 MW for Negros

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  - The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) has started its expansion project for its Palinpinon plant in Negros Oriental that is expected to produce an additional 20 megawatts of power upon its completion in 2014.

EDC vice president for Northern Negros Geothermal Production Field, Dwight Maxino, said yesterday the whole 20-MW will go to the Negros grid.

As early as now, EDC's marketing group is talking with the officials of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO) to supply power to the latter in 2014 when a power shortage in Bacolod and Negros Occidental will be expected, Maxino said.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras had earlier warned that Negros Occidental could face a serious power shortage by either 2014 or 2015 if it does not build its own power plant starting this year. The DOE projected that Negros will have a power deficit of 93 megawatts by 2015.

There has been no final agreement made yet between EDC and CENECO, said Maxino adding that EDC is offering CENECO P4.70 per kilowatt-hour.

EDC's expansion project in Palinpinon is ongoing, as the drilling and other equipments are already there, and that some of facilities from its Northern Negros Geothermal Power Plant (NNGPP) at Brgy. Mailum in Bago City will be transferred to its Palinpinon plant in Negros Oriental.

The one in Bago will be "right-sized" with only five to 10 MW of power output, Maxino said.

EDC president and chief operating officer Richard Tantoco, in a press statement earlier, said the company has been looking into the possibility of using a smaller power plant for its NNGPP to make its operations more efficient.

"Due to its projected lower output, rightsizing NNGPP is a must to be cost-effective. The size of the plant turbine should match the amount of steam produced," Tantoco said last July.

He said NNGPP can only generate an estimated five to 10 megawatts by the end of 2011, based on the results of two prolonged testings conducted from May 2009 to November 2010 and from April 2011 to June 2011.

Studies had shown there was high temperature in the area that increased towards the buffer zone, and that there was low permeability in the area and calcification or mineral scaling inside the wellbore was causing the low production.

Maxino said they are now discharging two wells from sitio Pataan in NNGPP and the testing is part of their optimization program that will be completed in December. "If the result is okay, we will stop in December; if not then we will continue for another three months. That testing will provide us some more data if we can really sustain the 10 megawatts in that area," he said.

Initial assessments have been done from the previous discharges and they already confirmed that they can sustain discharges from five to 10 MW, said Maxino, as he admitted that EDC cannot attain a 40-MW output, which was the firm's initial target at the start of its operations.

Maxino said EDC temporarily shut down its NNGPP in November last year pending further technical studies on the viability of its geothermal resources. When asked if the company has plans to drill more inside the Mt. Kanlaon buffer zone, Maxino said: "We don't have any studies yet if we will drill again in that same area. At this moment we have no plans (to drill more) because of this optimization (program). (FREEMAN)