EDC to revive idle geothermal wells

MANILA, Philippines — Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has tapped California-based solutions provider GreenFire Energy Inc. to revive idle and unproductive geothermal wells to raise power generation.

In a statement, GreenFire said it entered into an agreement with EDC to perform a commercial retrofit that will restore and generate steam from an idle geothermal well in the Mahanagdong geothermal facility in Leyte.

According to the Lopez firm, the idle geothermal well has not been usable due to the high level of non-condensable gases produced from the well when flowing.

The heat mining system from GreenFire will correct this and meet its surface system pressure requirements once it is installed and commissioned in the fourth quarter of the year.

The US firm said the data and experience gathered with the surface project are part of the collaborative efforts to evaluate the feasibility of using its GreenLoop™ technology in other opportunity wells of EDC.

“We have been looking at GreenFire Energy’s closed-loop approach to geothermal for some time and are happy to see the progress. While we see potential for the technology in large greenfield projects too, we see the fast payback on well retrofits as the easiest way to start,” said Liberato Virata, SVP and head of EDC’s facilities operations and maintenance group.

Meanwhile, GreenFire Energy and EDC are also working together to analyze other unproductive geothermal wells, and less productive geothermal fields where the potential for using the GreenLooop technology will be of the greatest technical and economic benefit.

“Being able to generate steam from our idle geothermal wells that will enable us to supply more of that much needed clean, reliable, stable power that our country needs is all a part of fulfilling EDC’s mission to forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future,” Virata said.

EDC has over 1,400-megawatts (MW) of total installed capacity which accounts for 20 percent of the Philippines’ total installed renewable energy capacity.

Its over 1,200 MW geothermal portfolio accounts for 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity, putting the Philippines on the map as the third largest geothermal producer in the world.

GreenFire GreenLoop is a patented, closed-loop geothermal energy system that generates power from geothermal resources where conventional geothermal systems cannot effectively operate, typically due to lack of permeability, water, or pressure.

The technology has been developed with grants from the US Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission and is the result of years of research conducted in concert with US National Laboratories, major universities, and eminent experts in multiple scientific disciplines.

“We really appreciate EDC’s willingness to consider and implement new solutions to geothermal wells and resources that have excellent potential but with production issues that can’t be addressed by conventional technology. Many geothermal operators around the world have similar needs, but EDC is one of the most innovative so we’re pleased to have the opportunity to work with them,” said Joseph Scherer, CEO of GreenFire Energy Inc.

The first demonstration of GreenLoop was performed at the Coso KGRA in California, USA in 2019 and showed that GreenLoop can retrofit unproductive or idle geothermal wells and run successfully at field-scale.

It is estimated that over 20 percent of geothermal wells worldwide are unproductive from inception or due to degradation over time and it is further estimated that only two of the world’s geothermal resource can be profitably harvested with conventional technology.