Energy Development Corp., the country’s biggest producer of geothermal power, expects modest sales growth for the second quarter as it continues to rehabilitate the 150-megawatt Bacon-Manito (BacMan) geothermal plants.
“Until we get the BacMan plants back on line, our numbers will be fairly modest. With the (rehabilitation of the geothermal facilities), we have effectively lost P1.8 billion a year on take or pay revenue. Also, I think prices at the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) have been more moderate this summer,” explained EDC president and COO Richard B. Tantoco.
Tantoco said the P1.8 billion represented the foregone revenues from the BacMan facilities for every year that these were under rehabilitation. As such, the Lopez affiliate has been trying to fast-track the rehabilitation of the facilities, cutting down the original schedule to 10-11 months from the previous 24 months.
“We’re expecting the first two units to be back by end of July to the first week of August,” he added.
The BacMan complex is composed of steam plants in Albay and Sorsogon. EDC currently provides the steam for these facilities. The BacMan I geothermal facility has two 55-MW turbines, both commissioned in 1993. The BacMan II facility also has two 20-MW units.
According to Tantoco, the EDC will commission by next month the 55-MW and 20-MW units, and by December this year, the other 55-MW facility—or a total of 130 MW. The other 20-MW unit may take a while to rehabilitate as this exploded in 2005, he said.
Prior to EDC’s takeover of the geothermal plants from the government, they were practically inoperable, with generating availability of only 3 percent. The recommissioning of these facilities would now help increase not only the Lopez group’s total generating capacity, but also its revenue for the second half of 2011.