EDC to undertake 2 more geothermal projects

MANILA, Philippines — Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has lined up two more geothermal projects worth over P20 billion.

“At the moment, we’re constructing two new plants and two more should commence construction in the next 12 months with an investment of in excess of P20 billion,” EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco said during the virtual BusinessWorld Insight: Kickstarting Green Recovery webinar yesterday.

The two new projects are the 100-megawatt (MW) Aya pumped-storage project in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija and the 20-MW Tanawon geothermal power plant in Bicol.

EDC said the Aya project is eyed to become the largest battery system that the country will have, which can discharge over eight to 12 hours of support to the grid, unlike the traditional lithium-ion battery systems that have a typical max discharge of three hours.

Meanwhile, the Tanawon plant in Bicol is part of the expansion of the Bacon-Manito (BacMan) geothermal power plant in the Bicol region in the next four years.

EDC also has two ongoing projects – the 29-megawatt (MW) Palayan binary plant in Bicol and the 3.6-MW Mindanao 3 binary plant.

The Palayan binary plant, which has an estimated cost of P6.4 billion and is targeted to be completed in 2022, will boost the overall power generation capacity of the existing Bacman geothermal power plant – the 120-MW Bacman I and 20-MW Bacman II.

Meanwhile, the Mindanao 3 binary plant, which is targeted to be completed in the first half of 2022, expands the 52.3-MW Mindanao I and 50.93-MW Mindanao II geothermal power plants in Mt. Apo.

Tantoco said the Bicol projects would use new technology called radial outflow turbines, a first in the Philippines, which will produce geothermal power at a more efficient level.

“They are much more compact, much more efficient and they use a lot less cement when they’re being constructed. Even the footprint of the radial outflow turbine plants, which we are buying from an Italian manufacturer called Exergy, is much greener than tech known as recently as 10 to 15 years ago,” he said.

EDC is the largest pure renewable energy company in the Philippines, operating 1,186 MW of geothermal, 150 MW of wind, 132 MW of hydroelectric power, and 12 MW of solar power plants – for a total of 1,480 MW of clean and renewable energy.

Recognized as a world leader in wet steam field technology, the company operates in various locations in the country, including in Bicol, Leyte, Negros Island, and Mindanao.

EDC, through its subsidiaries, also operates the biggest combined wind and solar farm in the region, located in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, and has substantial hydropower assets located in Nueva Ecija.

The company accounts for 19 percent of the country’s total installed renewable energy capacity and comprises 62 percent of the total installed geothermal capacity. It has put the Philippines on the map as the third largest geothermal producer in the world.