EPI putting up 40-MW power plant in Mindoro

Emerging Power Inc. is launching today its 40-megawatt geothermal power plant, which has a supply agreement involving 20 megawatts of power with Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Ormeco).

The supply deal is hoped to bring down power rates in the province by about 40 percent to P6.58 per kilowatt hour (kWh)  from the current level of P11 per kWh upon the project’s completion in 2016.

EPI spokesperson Gani D. Capaning said the Montelago Geothermal Power Plant, which is located in Barangays Montelago, Montemayor and Melgar-B in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, was also being eyed as an additional power source for Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Omeco).

Capaning said Omeco had already accepted EPI’s offer to supply Occidental Mindoro 20 MW of power.

He said the EPI project would provide people in the province with a cheap and renewable energy source.

“If we keep investing in coal and oil, consumers will be paying P40 per kWh by 2030, if we are to use the estimates of institutions like the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Economist. In contrast, the Montelago Geothermal Power Plant will stabilize the price over the next 20 years and consumers will only pay a maximum of P7.50 by 2030,” he said.

Ormeco president Audel Arago welcomed the geothermal project.

“As we anticipate the Montelago Geothermal Power Plant’s commissioning and operation in (2016), we look forward to the positive economic and environmental impact it will bring, when our consumers will have been accorded more affordable electricity drawn from renewable energy,” Arago said.