Geothermal plant planned for Biliran

Business World Online
Posted on May 11, 2014 10:59:27 PM
By Claire-Ann M. C. Feliciano, Senior Reporter

BILIRAN Geothermal, Inc. (BGI) hopes to start commercial operation of a 49-megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant in the province by 2016, an official of the Energy department said on Saturday.

Mario C. Marasigan, director of the department’s Renewable Energy Management Bureau, said in a telephone interview that BGI is currently in the pre-development stage of the project.

“At the moment, they (BGI) are in drilling operations. After that, they will declare the commerciality of the project,” Mr. Marasigan said when asked for updates.

“They are looking at 2016 for the operations of the plant provided that they can declare commerciality by June,” he added, noting that construction is targeted to start by July.

GENERATION POTENTIAL
The same official noted that initial estimates of resource in the area show that steam to be produced can run a 49-MW plant.

Asked on cost of investment for the project, Mr. Marasigan said this would be bared upon declaration of commerciality.

Last month, Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla inspected BGI’s ongoing drilling operations at the site.

Data from the Energy department showed that the Biliran geothermal concession -- which was awarded to BGI in July 2008 -- covers an area of 260 square kilometers in barangays Cabibihan and Villa Vicenta in the municipality of Caibiran.

BGI is a joint venture of Filtech Energy Drilling Corp. (FEDCO) and Iceland-based Orka Energy Holding ehf.

According to FEDCO’s Web site, the joint venture has already completed several surveys within the geothermal field.

FEDCO, which was incorporated in 2005, provides consultancy services for the geothermal industry.

The company explores, drills, develops, exploits and manages geothermal resources for its clients.

Meanwhile, Orka Energy is a geothermal development company that specializes in harnessing geothermal resources for electricity generation and district heating.

Besides the Philippines, the company also has operations in Singapore and China.

The Energy department has so far awarded 41 geothermal energy service contracts with total installed capacity of 1,847 MW.

As of end-January, there were two pending applications for projects with combined potential capacity of 60 MW.

The department is targeting to increase the country’s installed capacity to 3,307 MW by 2030 based on the Philippine Energy Plan 2013-2030.

The country is currently the second largest producer of geothermal energy in the world, next to the United States which has a total capacity of 3,215 MW.

Indonesia, Mexico and Italy are also in the top five with capacities of 1,136 MW, 958 MW and 915 MW, respectively. source