Emerging Power to launch Mindoro geothermal plant

MANILA, Philippines - Emerging Power Inc. (EPI), a Mindoro-based power company, will launch its 40-megawatt geothermal power plant, a move seen to help bring down power rates in the province by about 40 percent to P6.58 per kilowatt-hour from the current P11 per kwh.

This will mean a savings of at least P2.1 billion in four years, according to estimates made by EPI.

The geothermal facility will be located in the barangays of Montelago, Montemayor and Melgar-B in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro and will supply 20 MW to Occidental Mindoro Electric Cooperative (Ormeco).

EPI spokesperson Gani Capaning said the facility would help address the problem of power outages and high electricity costs in the province.

“If we keep investing in coal and oil, consumers will be paying P40 per kilowatt-hour by year 2030 if we are to use the estimates of institutions like the International Energy Agency (IEA) and The Economist. In contrast, the Montelago geothermal power plant will stabilize the price over the next 20 years and consumers will only pay a maximum of P7.50 per kwh by 2030,” Capaning said.

Ormeco president Audel Arago, for his part, said the facility would help augment power supply in the province.

 â€œAs we anticipate the Montelago geothermal power plant’s commissioning and operation in (2016), we look forward to the positive economic and environmental impact it will bring, when our consumers shall have been accorded more affordable electricity drawn from renewable energy,” Arago said.

He said the high cost of diesel and bunker fuel has been jacking up the cost of electricity in the Philippines’ main power grids and will continue to do so in the coming years.

EPI is slated to drill by the third quarter of this year and will start delivering by middle of 2015, with the full capacity for delivering 20 MW to Occidental Mindoro and 20 MW to Oriental Mindoro by the middle of 2016.