Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- May 13, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Lopez-led
Energy Development Corp. (EDC) is adding an additional 30-megawatt (MW)
capacity as it looks to expand its geothermal platform, its top official said.
The company is pursuing several
local expansion projects across the country, EDC president and COO Richard
Tantoco said.
“Right now, we have a few plants
lined up for EDC. They are small, less than 30 MW,” he said.
The existing geothermal assets with
possible expansion projects include the Bacon-Manito Geothermal Production in Sorsogon,
its Leyte geothermal projects and Mt. Apo in Mindanao.
“We are likely to issue notice to
proceed on one of them within the next six months,” Tantoco said.
In Leyte, the company owns and
operates the 112.5 MW Tongonan, 180-MW Mahanagdong, 125-MW Upper Mahiao, and
232.5-MW Malitbog geothermal projects.
The Bacon-Manito Geothermal
Production in Sorsogon is composed of the 120-MW Bacman I and 20-MW Bacman II.
It also has geothermal power plants
on Mount Apo in Mindanao which have capacities of 52 MW and 54 MW.
EDC also has 15 geothermal contract
areas, of which only four are in commercial operations.
For this year, the company said it
has set a budget of P7.45 billion, mostly allocated to improve the reliability
of its geothermal facilities.
It said about 88.11 percent, or
P6.56 billion, will be used to finance acquisitions to support the operations
and maintenance requirements of the geothermal plants in Leyte, Negros Island,
Bacon-Manito, and Mt. Apo.
The balance of the capex, meanwhile,
will be used as investments in First Gen (FG) Hydro, Wind Ilocos Norte Business
Unit, Solar Business Unit, Latin America, geothermal, wind and solar
expansions, and head office.
Last year, EDC reported a net income
of P9.59 billion, a 20 percent jump from P7.94 billion in the previous year.
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