EDC offers cheap energy source, boosts power assets

MANILA, Philippines - The country's largest geothermal firm takes over two geothermal power plants in Kidapawan City in North Cotabato from build, operate, transfer (BOT) contractor Mindanao I Geothermal Partnership (M1GP) Thursday. Energy Development Corp. (EDC) now owns the 52-megawatt (MW) Mindanao I and 54-MW Mindanao II geothermal power plants, beefing up its portfolio of power generation assets after it agreed with MIGP last Oct. 23, 2006 to extend Mindanao I power plant’s BOT contract period and delayed the plant’s turnover until June 17, 2009, to coincide with Mindanao II power plant’s turnover. In a disclosure, EDC president and chief executive Paul Aquino said the listed company would be "well-positioned" to address and benefit from the robust growth in peak electricity demand in the Mindanao grid as it offers "cheaper and cleaner source of energy." “The turnover of the Mindanao power plants will fully integrate the value chain of the geothermal business from steam production to power generation, like our Leyte projects," he said. The Mindanao plants are the last of the BOT plants turned over to EDC after it assumed operations of the Unified Leyte plants from California Energy and Ormat in 2006 and 2007. The Unified Leyte plants consist of the 125-MW Upper Mahiao, 232.5-MW Malitbog, 180-MW Mahanagdong, and 50.9-MW Optimization geothermal power plants. The Mindanao I and Mindanao II geothermal power plants started commercial operations on March 4, 1997 and June 17, 1999, respectively. Since their commissioning, MIGP and MIIGP have operated with an average availability factor of 96 percent and 98 percent at an average plant capacity of 91.3 percent and 92.5 percent, respectively. Based on the 2006-2007 Mindanao Grid data, the two geothermal plants generate an average of 10.56 percent of entire electricity supply in Mindanao. “The operation of the Mindanao power plants will continue to be efficient with the seamless turnover and fusion of expertise of EDC and Marubeni geothermists and engineers," Aquino added. - R. A. M. Rubio, GMANews.TV