EDC set to put four geothermal power facilities online in 2024

Mahanagdong geothermal plant, Leyte, Philippines (source: EDC)

The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is targeting to commence operations on four geothermal power plants before the end of 2024. The four planned projects are as follows:

EDC is also planning to augment their existing geothermal power facilities with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). By the end of 2024, three BESS projects are expected to go online:

• 20-MWh BacMan BESS in Bicol
• 10-MWh Tongonan BESS in Leyte
• 10-MWh Negros BESS

A total of Php 29.3 billion (USD 500 million) of investment has been earmarked for the new capacity-building projects. According to First Gen President and COO Francis Giles Puno, the completion of these seven projects would bring the company’s total installed renewable energy capacity to 1705 MW. By 2030, First Gen is aiming to have 13,000 MW of total capacity for its RE and natural gas assets.

“Easily, that’s at a million dollars per megawatt. That’s easily $9 billion over that span of time. So it’s a large investment that we will need,” said Puno. “So the policies of the government have to be very supportive. Not only the policies, but the implementation of those policies has to be correct for it to attract the investors. The fact is that we have a lot of investments that are needed.”

To support these new projects, First Gen is almost tripling its capital expenditure budget to $1.27 billion this year. A bulk of this budget, or $670 million, will support the operations and expansion of EDC.

“We hope that adding these modest capacities to the grid from clean energy sources will help ease our country’s need for more power supply without creating stress on the environment,” Puno concluded.

Source: Philippine Star and GMA News Online