EDC plant boosts Visayas grid

SCREENGRAB from www.energy.com.ph

Energy Development Corp. (EDC), a leading geothermal energy firm in the country, has inaugurated a new facility that is seen to help ease the power supply crunch in the Visayas.

The 49.4-MW Nasulo geothermal power plant was commissioned in Valencia, Negros Oriental province, even as the Department of Energy (DOE) forecasts “tight” power supply in Luzon and Visayas next year.

Based on DOE estimates, power demand in the Visayas will likely exceed the current capacity of 2,037 MW by 2015. To address the deficit, the DOE has lined up energy projects, including EDC’s Nasulo plant.

“The Nasulo geothermal plant will help address the tightening power supply-demand situation in the Visayas region. We are pleased that one of our greenfield projects is now ready to provide clean, reliable and competitively priced power to the province of Negros Oriental and to our valued customers in the Visayas grid,” EDC chair and CEO Federico Lopez said in a statement.

The Nasulo geothermal plant was constructed using equipment from EDC’s geothermal power plant in Negros Occidental.

The facility expands the portfolio of power assets of EDC and its subsidiaries in Southern Negros. These include the 112.5-MW Palinpinon I and 80-MW Palinpinon II geothermal plants of Green Core Geothermal Inc. (GCGI).

“The Nasulo geothermal power plant will help us fulfill the needs of our customers,” EDC president Richard Tantoco said. He pointed out that since Nasulo uses an indigenous power source, it would provide competitively priced power that minimizes foreign exchange fluctuations and volatile fuel price movements.

EDC and its subsidiaries lead the production of geothermal energy in the Philippines, accounting for more than 60 percent of the total geothermal capacity installed in the country.

Aside from the Palinpinon and Nasulo plants, the group’s geothermal portfolio includes the integrated steam and electricity projects in Leyte, Bicol and North Cotabato with a combined installed capacity of 1,130 MW.

EDC also partly owns and operates the 132-MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric plants in Nueva Ecija and, through a subsidiary, is constructing the 87-MW Burgos wind power project in Ilocos Norte.