Damaged geo plants to go on stream in August – EDC

Manila Times.net
January 19, 2014 8:09 pm

by Madelaine B. Miraflor Reporter

All the plants in the Unified Leyte geothermal power complex that were severely damaged by the Super Typhoon Yolanda two months ago are targeted to be online by August or earlier than that.

“We should have all the [Unified Leyte] units back in operation around August and possibly earlier depending on the availability of spare [parts], which is dependent on manufacturing lead-time,” Richard Tantoco, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) president and chief operating officer, said in a text message to reporters over the weekend.

EDC owns Unified Leyte plants consisting of the 125-megawatt (MW) Upper Mahiao, 232.5-MW Malitbog, 180-MW Mahanagdong and 51-MW Optimization plants, the 106-MW Mindanao 1 and 2 plants in Kidapawan, Cotabato, and the 49-MW Northern Negros geothermal plant in Negros Occidental.

“For the Unified Leyte, we are now producing a total of 292 MW and for Tongonan, we have two out of three units running at a total of 75 MW,” Tantoco said.

On Friday, additional 75-megawatt capacity of power was added to the Visayas grid after EDC energized another unit of the Malitbog Power Plant.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Lopez-led geothermal company reported that another unit of Malitbog power plant had been restored, which will contribute an additional capacity of 75 MW of power that it could supply to the region.

“With the extra 75-MW unit of Malitbog, the Malitbog plant is now producing 150 MW,” Tantoco specified.

EDC informed the local bourse earlier this month that it has partially re-commissioned the Malitbog Power Plant.

Part of the Unified Leyte geothermal power plant in Leyte, Malitbog is just one of the many power facilities that were badly destroyed by the super typhoon in November last year.

Few days after Yolanda hit the central part of the country, EDC reported that the main power plants in the Unified Leyte, which provides nearly half of the Visayas’ power demand, remain nonoperational.

Before 2013 ended, the company said that some power plants in the Unified Leyte complex were partially operational, specifying that it recommissioned the Upper Mahiao and Leyte Optimization plants.   source