Iceland Firm Enters Biliran Geothermal

Manila Bulletin

By MYRNA M. VELASCO

October 1, 2012, 5:53pm

MANILA, Philippines — Icelandic firm H.S. Orka Energy will be partnering with the local developer of the 49-megawatt Biliran geothermal power project in the Visayas.

This was announced to the media by Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug, indicating that the tie-up will advance project implementation into the scheduled drilling of 2 to 3 exploration wells next year.

Layug noted that the entry of Orka Energy will beef up the technical wherewithal of the local developer as far as bringing the project into fruition.

The equity take of Orka Energy has not been specified at this point. It can be gleaned from previous announcements of project developer Envent Holdings Philippines though that another Icelandic firm Geysir Green Energy already came into the project as early as 2009.

Geysir Energy was affiliated with Reykjavik Energy Invest which first explored opportunity in the Philippine geothermal sector via the privatization then of the Energy Development Corporation.

As early as 2010, the Biliran project was among the geothermal ventures showing potential to reach commercial development.

Until that point, the project sponsor indicated that of its planned capacity, about 35-40 megawatts have already been offered to off-takers (buyers) which are mostly electric cooperatives.

Among the capacity purchasers cornered by Event Holdings include Leyte Electric Cooperatives II, IV and V, Don Orestes Romualdez Electric Cooperative and Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative.

The balance which accounts for the un-contracted capacity is being lined up for trading at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas.

Once exploration activities will confirm commercial scale of steam that can be drawn from the production wells, the next implementation milestones to be worked on will be the financial closing and tapping the turnkey contractor for the facility’s construction. The plant was initially targeted to be on stream this 2012, but given development hurdles, it is seen that commissioning may not come until 2015.    source