7 geothermal power plants get DOE nod

Sunstar Davao
By Reuel John F. Lumawag
Friday, October 10, 2014

THE Department of Energy (DOE) awarded two power firms with service contracts for their seven proposed geothermal projects as of July 2014.

Engr. Rolando J. Fara-on, DOE Mindanao senior science research specialist, said when service contracts are issued to power projects, it means that most of these are in the pre-development stage.

He said these include complying the needed documents, certificates, and endorsements and conducting their feasibility studies.

Fara-on also said that this will include the exploration in the locations of the plants.

In the data provided by the DOE-Mindanao Field Office, the proponents of the geothermal projects are the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and AP Renewables Inc. (Apri). Of the two proponents, EDC has five projects and Apri has two. The data also showed that EDC has a potential capacity of 140 megawatts (MW) while Apri has yet to determine how much in potential power it can generate through a series of studies and experiments.

Of the EDC's 140 MW, these are the 30 MW Mainit Geothermal Project, 40 MW Lakewood Geothermal Prospect, 30 MW Ampiro Geothermal Power Project, 20 MW Balatukan-Balingasag Geothermal Prospect; and the 20 MW Mt. Zion Geothermal Power Project.

The locations of the projects of EDC are in the Caraga Region, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, and Davao Region.

The projects of Apri are the Mt. Talomo-Tico Geothermal Power Project in the borders of North Cotabato and Davao del Sur and the Mt. Sibulan-Kapatagan Geothermal Power Project in Davao del Sur.

Fara-on said the company recently presented their geothermal projects to the Regional Development Council (RDC)-Davao Region.

He said that the Apri is hoping to find a location that will have the potential capacity of at least 20 MW.

However, since these projects of two companies are still in the pre-development stage, Fara-on pointed out that the potential capacity of each power project may still increase but if the company finds out that the potential capacity is only below 20 MW then they may not pursue their power projects. source