Maibarara power plant all set for $25-M expansion

The 20-megawatt (MW) Maibarara integrated geothermal power facility that started commercial operations early this year would soon be expanded to the tune of $25 million to address the surge in demand for energy.

PetroEnergy Resources Corp., which leads the project vehicle Maibarara Geothermal Inc. (MGI), may expand the project in two phases.

“We are expanding Maibarara by 10 MW to bring the capacity to 30 MW. Our [capital expenditure] for that is about $25 million. After that, we will consider another expansion,” company vice president Francisco G. Delfin Jr. told the Inquirer.

Work will start within the year so that the expansion may be completed by end-2015 or early 2016, he said.

PetroEnergy Resources president Milagros V. Reyes said after the 10-MW expansion, another 10 MW in capacity may be added.

The existing 20 MW integrated steamfield-power plant facility in Sto. Tomas, Batangas entailed an investment of $78 million, of which almost $55 million was financed through loans, via RCBC and BPI, while equity accounted for the balance of about $23 million.