EDC targets 147-MW power dispatch to Visayas grid

MANILA, Philippines - Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the geothermal company owned by the Lopez Group, is targeting to dispatch 147 megawatts into the Visayas grid from its Unified Leyte power plant, the single biggest source of electricity in the region, which was damaged by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

 â€œWe will try to target -- if everything goes well -- about 147 MW by the end of the year,” said EDC executive vice-president Ernesto Pantangco.

He did not say when the plant can run again on its full capacity of 650 MW but Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said it may take a year to fully restore the geothermal facility.

The super typhoon which ripped through Central Visayas on Nov. 8, damaged the 650-MW plant.

Pantangco said EDC that needs to install some equipment necessary to operate the plant again.

Last week, EDC partially re-commissioned the plant and was able to dispatch 57 MW into the Visayas grid after successful reliability runs.

 â€œEDC has partially re-commissioned the Upper Mahiao and Leyte optimization plants. The power plants are currently on reliability runs and have successfully dispatched 57 MW into the grid,” EDC said.

The Unified Leyte plants consist of the 130-megawatt Upper Mahiao, 232-MW Malitbog, 180-MW Mahanagdong and 112.5-Tongonan power plants.

The typhoon damaged the cooling towers of the Malitbog, Tongonan and Mahanagdong power plants, which are necessary to run the plants.

In addition, part of the cooling system of Upper Mahiao plant was also damaged, EDC said.

The control systems of Tongonan, Mahanagdong and Upper Mahiao also sustained water damage.

Furthermore, EDC said that the small optimization plants consisting of 15 MW Tongonan topping cycle and the 16 MW Malitbog bottoming cycle are now being assessed.

The steam field lines, on the other hand, appear to be operable despite manifest damage sustained, EDC said, but quickly added that the company’s buildings, offices, administration buildings warehouses, laboratories, staff housing facilities have sustained varying degrees of damage.

Because of the damage sustained by its facilities, EDC has formally written the National Power Corp. (Napocor) regarding the force majeure provisions of its power purchase agreement.