Mindanao geothermal plant revived

MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC, formerly known as Philippine National Oil Co.-EDC) announced that it has recommissioned its Mindanao 1 Geothermal Plant (M1) which is expected to normalize power supply in Davao City. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Monday, EDC said that M1 was running with the expected output of 48 megawatts, against its 52-mega-watt original capacity, as of last Sunday. M1 experienced an outage last July, when its 75-mega-volt-ampere transformer was damaged after an internal inspection. The reconnection of the plant was initially targeted for Wednesday, but was accomplished last weekend. ‘Stable’ The National Transmission Corporation had assured that power supply in the covered area remained stable despite the plant shutdown. The M1, together with the 54-megawatt Mindanao 2 Geothermal Power plant, forms part of the Mindanao Geothermal Production Field (MGPF). MGPF is situated within the borders of Barangay Ilomavis, Kidapawan City, North Cotabato. MGPF occupies 112 hectares out of the 701 hectares that the government reserved nationwide for geothermal development back in 1991. Ownership turnover The two power facilities are being operated jointly by EDC and Marubeni Corp. of Japan, one of two foreign groups which financed, designed and constructed the project under a build-operate and transfer (BOT) arrangement. The other foreign BOT operator, Oxbow Power Corp. of the United States, was earlier bought out by Marubeni, making the Japanese firm the sole BOT operator of the plants. Full operation and ownership of the two power facilities will be turned over to EDC by June next year, when the 10-year BOT arrangement will have ended. - BusinessWorld