MANILA, Philippines -- Energy Development Corp. said Wednesday it would bid for the government's geothermal plants as part of a plan to become the world's top supplier of electricity generated by ground steam.

EDC will bid at auction for the Tongonan and Palimpinon plants in the central Philippines as well as Bacon-Manito in the Bicol peninsula southeast of Manila.

Winning the bids would add 455.5 megawatts to the company's assets and boost its generating capacity to 1,650 MW, a company statement said.

This would vault it past US energy firm Chevron, which produces 1,273 MW of geothermal energy annually, mostly in the Philippines and Indonesia, EDC said.

Geothermal plants use naturally occurring steam produced by underground volcanic activity.

EDC said it expects the auctions to be held this year and next, but declined to provide estimates of how much they expect the three plants to cost, or how the acquisitions would be financed.

Aside from the state-owned plants, EDC also plans to develop about 600 MW of additional geothermal capacity on its own over the next 10 years, it added.

According to the International Geothermal Association, the Philippines ranks second to the United States in geothermal energy production, with installed generating capacity of 1,978 MW.