Maibarara Geothermal connects power plant to Luzon Grid

Maibarara Geothermal Inc. has successfully synchronized its 12-megawatt power plant to the Luzon Grid, parent company PetroEnergy Resources Corp. said Monday.

In a regulatory filing, PetroEnergy information officer Arlan Profeta said the Maibarara in Sto. Tomas, Batangas was synchronized on March 9, 2018.

“M2 was put online at 12:04 p.m. on March 9, marking as well its first export of power to the Luzon Grid,” MGI power plant manager Paul Elmer Morala said.

Maibarara is 65-percent owned by PetroGreen Energy Corp., the holding unit of PetroEnergy. The rest is shared by PHINMA Energy Corp., which owns 25 percent, and PNOC Renewables Corp. with 10 percent.

“Maibarara-2 is the first geothermal facility to be put up under the administration of President Duterte and the only geothermal power plant installed in the country since 2014,” Maibarara Geothermal president Francisco Delfin Jr. said.

The facility was constructed starting in March 2016, with Japan’s Fuji Electric as supplier of the turbine-generator and other major equipment.

M2 is the second geothermal unit of Maibrara after unit M1 started commercial operations in February 2014.

“It marks the second wave of our judicious investment and operation in the renewable energy sector following the first wave with the 20 MW Maibarara-1 unit in February 2014, the 36 MW Nabas-1 wind farm in June 2015, and the 50 MW Tarlac-1 solar facility in February 2016,” PetroGReen president Milagros Reyes said. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News