Lopez affiliate EDC gets geothermal concession area in Chile

MANILA, Philippines—The Energy Development Corp., the country’s largest producer of geothermal energy, has been awarded its first international concession area in Chile, allowing the Lopez affiliate to expand its operations globally.

This contract for the concession area called Newen, for which the company applied for way back in the last quarter of 2009, will allow EDC to develop the area, drill wells where it can draw the steam and later build a geothermal facility should reserves in the area be proven economically viable.

According to EDC president and COO Richard B. Tantoco, the company is now set to begin in 2012 all the necessary geological and geophysical surveys that will help identify specific areas where it can best drill the wells.

These surveys would include fault mapping, fluid chemistry, rock analysis and metallurgic surveys, among others, he said in a briefing on Wednesday.

“It’s all pre-work activities that will tell you where you should drill, so you can maximize your chances of getting good wells. We have about a year before we start actual drilling of wells,” Tantoco said.

“The drilling of each well could take about 70 to 80 days. This will be followed by the testing of wells for about 90 days. The drillings and testings could take a year, maybe a little more, depending on rig availability within Latin America. It is only after that you can set up the power plant. Our general rule of thumb is from the time we get the concession contract to the time we generate the actual kilowatt-hours, it could take as long as six to seven years,” Tantoco explained.

EDC has since prepared for this venture as it has already set up office in Chile through EDC Chile Ltd., a limited liability company, which has the purpose of exploring, evaluating and extracting mineral or substance to generate geothermal energy. The company has earlier submitted applications for 13 concession areas in Chile and submitted bids for five other blocks, also in the same country.

Meanwhile, Tantoco also disclosed that EDC would finally sign within January a joint venture agreement with Australian firm Hot Rock Ltd. for the development of two concession areas in Chile and another two in Peru.

This agreement will seal EDC’s acquisition of a 70 percent interest in each of the concession area. “We’re just finalizing discussions,” he added.

In November 2011, the EDC signed a heads of terms agreement with Hot Rock for the acquisition of rights over the geothermal areas in Calerias and Longavi in Chile and the Quellaapatcheta and Chocopata regions in Peru.

EDC is currently also the world’s largest integrated producer of geothermal power and the acknowledged global leader in wet steam technology. It is currently engaged in the exploration, development and optimization of geothermal fields, as well as the operation and maintenance of geothermal power plants with an aggregate capacity of 1,130 megawatts.