EDC shuts down temporarily Negros power plant for tests

MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has temporarily closed its Northern Negros Geothermal Power Plant (NNGPP) to enable the company to conduct further tests on the facility.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), EDC said the shutdown of the power plant took into consideration the findings of technical consultants hired to undertake the tests.

“In technical agreement with consultants from the USA and New Zealand who conducted a peer review, EDC has temporarily shut down its geothermal plant in Negros Occidental to conduct additional technical studies,” EDC senior vice president for technical services Manuel Ogena said.

“Our findings have been validated by international third-party experts we engaged to study the resource.”

According to Ogena, the consultants confirmed that the area is challenging and that further technical studies are needed.

“Admittedly, this will entail more investments and time but we are determined to make the resource viable for the province to benefit from clean, indigenous energy,” the EDC official said.

The shutdown started midnight of Nov. 21, with the technical study to last for nine months at an estimated cost of P6 million.

“The power plant has been due for preventive maintenance since June 2010 but we deferred it due to the tight power supply in the Visayas,” Ogena said.

He added that the company could afford the temporary shutdown of the power facility since there are existing power plants that could supplement the power demand.

“Now that several new power plants are coming in and some units of the geothermal plants of Green Core have been rehabilitated, it is also a good time for us to conduct the maintenance work,” he noted.

The power plant and steamfield, he said, need to be shut down while technical studies are being conducted as the survey will require zero disturbance of the reservoir.

“During the shutdown, EDC will continue to implement its environmental management and community relations programs that have benefited the stakeholders,” Ogena said.

NNGPP had encountered between steam supply problems in the past but was resolved and synchronized in the grid in May 2009.

EDC has invested between P7 billion to P 8 billion for the development of the plant.

In February 2007, the $68.4-million facility became the fifth geothermal field developed and operated by EDC and the first power plant constructed and fully-owned by the company. It is also EDC’s second plant in Negros Island after the Palinpinon or the Southern Negros Geothermal Power Plant (SNGGP) in Valencia, Negros Oriental.

NNGPP is also the first renewable power project in the country to operate as a merchant plant under the new electricity environment. The power plant’s output is distributed through 25 kilometers of transmission line to the Mansilingan substation of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines.

EDC remains the country’s largest producer of geothermal energy with an installed capacity of over 1,100 megawatts. In 2005, it accounted for 60 percent of the Philippines ’ installed geothermal capacity and contributed approximately 12.4 percent of total installed power capacity.