Philippine Country Update: Present and Future Geothermal Energy Development

Abstract

Since the last country update in 2010, there was no significant development in the Philippine geothermal industry. A reduction in installed capacity, from 1951.84 MWe as reported in May 2010 to 1902.46 MWe, as of June 2013 came about, mainly owing to the decommissioning of the 49.48 MWe Northern Negros Power Plant. Despite the reduction in installed capacity, geothermal energy production still accounted for 14% of the total electricity energy supply, as of the end of 2012. Total generation reached 10,230.54 GWh, equivalent to fuel oil displacement of 17.05 MMBFOE or savings in fuel oil importation of MMUS$1,639.89. The Philippines also remains as the 2nd largest producer of geothermal energy in the world Additional 40 MWe is expected to be on-stream by 2014 with the commissioning of the 20 MWe Maibarara Power Plant of Petro Energy by the end of 2013 and 20 MWe from the transfer of the Northern Negros Power Plant to Palinpinon 2 (with a consequent decommissioning of the 20 MWe Nasuji Power Plant once the transferred power plant is operational) by mid-2014, bringing the total capacity of the Palinpinon Geothermal Field to 212.5 MWe. Several geothermal contracts had been awarded by the Department of Energy to various developers. Exploration activities are being carried out in several of these prospects. If the various geothermal contracts come into fruition, a total of 1405 MWe additional capacity is being expected to be added through 2030, 270-300 MWe of which will be coming from expansion and greenfield projects of Energy Development Corporation.