Maibarara facility to start next year

MANILA, Philippines - Maibarara Geothermal Inc. (MGI), will start the commercial operations of its 20-megawatt geothermal power facility in Sto. Tomas, Batangas early next year, its top official said.

Originally, the company had targeted to commence operations in the latter part of 2013.

On the sidelines of an energy investment forum, MGI president F.G. Delfin said the company still needs to do several safety tests.

“It looks like we’ll extend the testing to early 2014,” Delfin told reporters yesterday.

He said Fuji Electric, the main supplier of MGI’s equipment, wanted to do some additional tests on certain equipment. “So because it’s a matter of safety and future operations, we agreed with them to do additional testing so that’s where we are.”

Last month, MGI secured approval from the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) to be a direct trading participant in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

PEMC’s approval of MGI’s WESM participation and Energy Regulatory Commission’s release of the project’s certificate of compliance paved the way for the plant’s commercial operations which will start as soon as on-going commissioning tests are successfully completed.

Delfin said the impending start of MGI’s commercial operations, a little over two years from financial closing, testifies to the team’s cooperation and assistance received from the Department of Energy and related agencies such as the Energy Regulatory Commission, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, PEMC and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.

MGI is a joint venture 65 percent owned by PetroGreen Energy Corp. (PGEC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of publicly-listed PetroEnergy Resources  Corp. (PERC). Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. (TAO) and PNOC Renewables Corp. own 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, of MGI.

The firm secured a P2.4-billion loan from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and Bank of the Philippine Islands in September 2011 to partially fund the project. Ceremonial groundbreaking and construction of the power plant officially started in April 2013.

Three major components comprise the Maibarara project – steamfield, power station and transmission facilities.

The steamfield is a compact development covering one hectare where three production wells, tapping a high-temperature natural-pH geothermal reservoir are connected to a central separator station. Separate steam from this station is conveyed to the power plant while the separated water is re-injected back to the reservoir in two deep injection wells; aggregate length of the steamfield fluid pipeline system is a little over one kilometer.