12 MW expansion project under way for Maibarara geothermal plant

Discharge of the first well, Mai6D on Maibarara project site, Philippines (source: Maibarara Geothermal Inc.)

Alexander Richter 4 Jan 2016

The Standard from the Philippines reports that the 12 MW expansion work has started for the Maibara geothermal power plant in Batangas province in the Philippines.

Maibarara Geothermal Inc. is now preparing the site and plant for full commercial operation in 2017, according to the company’s president Francisco Delfin Jr. said.

Maibarara Geothermal operates the existing 20-MW Maibarara geothermal power project in Sto. Tomas, Batangas under a joint venture with Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and PNOC Renewables Corp.

Its shareholders are PetroGreen Energy Corp. with 65 percent, Trans-Asia OIl and Energy Development Corp. with 25 percent and PNOC Renewables Corp. at 10 percent. PetroGreen is a wholly-owned subsidiary of publicly-listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp.

The Energy Department awarded the Maibarara service contract in February 2010 following an open and competitive selection process in October 2009.

The Maibarara expansion project involves the installation of a new 12-MW unit adjacent to the existing 20 MW Maibarara-1 geothermal project and is expected to add at least 95,000 megawatt-hours to the plant’s annual generation.

“We opted to increase Maibarara-2’s gross capacity from 10 MW to 12 MW after the successful flow-test of well MB-15RD and the release of an independent resource validation by California-based Geothermal Science, Inc. which confirmed more than sufficient reserves for combined M1 and M2 power generation for 25 years,”Delfin said.

Delfin said the capacity expansion, once completed, would enhance Maibarara Geothermal’s revenues.

“We aim for M2 unit to be on-line by third quarter 2017,” Delfin said earlier.

Source: The Standard