EDC net income soars 68% to P3.8 billion in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines - Lopez-owned Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the country’s leading producer of geothermal energy, reported yesterday that its net income increased by 68 percent to P3.80 billion for the first quarter of 2010, from P2.27 billion in the same period last year. 

Earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved by 82 percent to P4.94 billion. 

The robust growth was attributed to improved revenues from EDC’s two subsidiaries — the Green Core Geothermal, Inc. (GCGI), operator of the 192.5-MW Palinpinon and 112.5-MW Tongonan I geothermal power plants, and First Gen Hydro Power Corp. (FG Hydro), operator of the Pantabangan and Masiway hydroelectric plants.

The quarter also saw the company’s core net income improving by P3.2 billion, 103 percent higher than the P1.6 billion posted during the same period in 2009.

The marked improvement was primarily driven by the increased electricity sales from GCGI geothermal and Pantabangan-Masiway hydroelectric plants. 

“We’re off to a good start in 2010 given the performance of our subsidiary corporations.  Knowing the pulse of our customers worked to our advantage. We are sensitive to their preference for clean, reliable, sustainable and affordable energy sources,” EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco said.

Tantoco said “the pricing of the indigenous renewable energy resource that we offer our customers is independent of any indexation to movements in global energy indices. This was validated by the long term contracts that we have already secured for the Palinpinon and Tongonan geothermal power plants.”

Green Core took over operations of the Palinpinon and Tongonan I geothermal power plants in October last year.

This year, EDC is adding to its portfolio of power generation assets the 150-MW Bacman geothermal plant in Sorsogon after it submitted the highest bid in the recently concluded auction for the geothermal plants. 

“We are programming the rehabilitation of the Bacman power plants and bring them back to their full capacity within 18 to 24 months. With our acquisition of the Bacman plants, our steamfield and power plant operations will be fully integrated in all our project sites. This will make our operations more efficient and our electricity production competitively-priced,’’ Tantoco said.

EDC also owns and operates the Unified Leyte plants consisting of the 125-MW Upper Mahiao, 180-MW Mahanagdong, 232-MW Malitbog and 51-MW optimization plants, as well as the 52-MW Mindanao 1 and 54-MW Mindanao 2 power plants in North Cotabato. These plants were turned over to EDC by its BOT partners at the end of the cooperation period.

To date, EDC remains the largest producer of geothermal energy in the Philippines accounting for 62 percent of the total country installed geothermal capacity.

Aside from geothermal, EDC also owns and operates the 122-MW Pantabangan-Masiway hydro electric plants and has investments in wind energy projects in Ilocos and other provinces.