Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
Soon-to-be delisted
Energy Development Corporation (EDC) has been targeting to scale up on its
geothermal investments in Indonesia – one of its long-time targeted offshore
investment expansion terrain.
EDC President and Chief
Operating Officer Richard B. Tantoco disclosed that the company already secured
its preliminary survey assignments plus exploration (PSPE) for the geothermal
prospects it has been eyeing in Sumatra.
“We finally got awarded
what they call in Indonesia the PSPE rights… the PSPE is the equivalent of the
renewable energy service contract in the Philippines,” he said.
Tantoco nevertheless
qualified that it’s still very early days to give assessment on the resource
potential – like the targeted capacity that the steam field may eventually
yield.
He noted that the
company is still “doing road constructability surveys, so probably if all goes
well, we will have drilling in 18-24 months.”
And when the resource
merits commercial development, he indicated this early that they will be “open
into tapping a partner” for the venture.
“We’re always open. By
Indonesian law, we have to have 5.0-percent equity partner,” he explained, but
for now, he stressed that its’ too early yet to be delving on this.
For the capacity
off-take eventually of the power plant, Tantoco noted that it shall be
underwritten by state-run Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the state-run power
utility of Indonesia.
Indonesia is the first
Southeast Asian country that the Lopez majority-owned firm will be expanding on
when it comes to investments – that’s aside from the ventures that it is also
advancing in Latin America.
EDC is currently the
country’s mammoth geothermal energy producer – and sustaining the Philippines’ status
also as the second biggest player in the global sphere of geothermal energy.
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