EDC geothermal plant in Bicol adds 5MW additional capacity

By DANESSA O. RIVERA, GMA News

Published December 4, 2014 12:07pm

(Updated 2:48 p.m.) The Bicol region got an additional 5 megawatts of renewable energy after listed producer Energy Development Corp. (EDC) upgraded its geothermal power plant in the region.

"The increased capacity is a direct result of the upgraded Toshiba turbine design. Recall, that the installation of the brand new Toshiba steam turbine rotor unit and diaphragms was completed in September 2014," EDC noted in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Wholly-owned unit Bac-Man Geothermal Inc. is now operating Unit 2 at 60 MW gross, an increase of 5MW, the company said.

After completing the upgrades, the whole plant will run at full generating capacity by the first quarter of 2015, in time for the looming power situation expected in summer, an EDC official said Thursday.

In a text message to GMA News Online, EDC executive vice president Ernesto Pantangco said the Bac-Man geothermal plant will run on its full capacity of 135 MW after replacement.

"We will replace Unit 1's turbine by the first quarter next year," he added.

Located in the towns of Bacon in Sorsogon province and Manito in Albay, Bac-Man consists of BacMan I with two 55-megawatt turbines while BacMan II has two 20-MW geothermal facilities.

The plants were shut down in 2009.

The partial operations of the Bac-Man power plants heftily contributed to the nine-month performance of EDC, during which net income rose 71.5 percent to P6.285 billion from P3.664 billion.

BacMan Units 1 and 3 were temporarily shut down to give way for the installation of new turbine rotors, which were scheduled for this quarter and the first quarter of next year, EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco earlier said. – VS, GMA News

Tags: edcearnings, bacmangeothermal