EDC eyeing $540 million geothermal expansion in Bicol

SORSOGON, Philippines — Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. is looking to spend around $540 million (about P31 billion) to further heat up its geothermal power play in the Bicol region.

EDC president and COO Jerome Cainglet said the company is charting a 90-megawatt expansion of its existing 150-MW Bacon-Manito (Bac-Man) geothermal complex.

“In the Bac-Man area, (we’re looking at) probably another 50 MW. We’re exploring the potential we found as well as another 40 MW,” Cainglet said in a press briefing here.

Excluding expenses from drilling activities, Cainglet estimates an investment of around $6 million per MW to put up a geothermal facility.

The EDC official said the Bicolandia expansion would take “five or six years at the earliest.”

The Bac-Man geothermal complex is a 25,000-hectare geothermal reservation straddling the provinces of Sorsogon and Albay.

EDC yesterday fired up its 22-MW Tanawon Geothermal Power Plant in Sorsogon, which is projected to generate 159,000 gigawatt-hours of clean energy annually.

The facility is one of EDC’s seven growth projects that also include two binary geothermal power plants in Leyte and Negros Occidental.

During the Tanawon plant’s inauguration, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the Marcos administration is “determined” to help the Philippines become the world’s leading geothermal producer.

Garin affirmed the government’s commitment to laying vital programs and policies to drive more investments and fully unlock the country’s vast geothermal potential.

These initiatives include sharing exploration costs to reduce the financial risk exposure for developers, as drilling wells do not guarantee viable results.

“The risk is very high, so we are trying to study how we can reduce it. Ideally, we’re aiming to lower it by 50 percent,” Garin said. “What EDC and other similar companies need to start geothermal projects is government support.”

The Philippines was once the world’s second-largest producer of geothermal power – behind the United States – until Indonesia surpassed the country in 2018.

In 2023, the Philippines’ installed geothermal generating capacity stood at 1,952 MW, according to Department of Energy data.