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EDC recommissions Unit 1 of Bacon-Manito plants

EDC recommissions Unit 1 of Bacon-Manito plants Bacon-Manito geothermal power plant, Philippines (source: First Gen Corp.)
Alexander Richter 10 Feb 2014

Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has recommissioned Unit 1 of the Bacon-Manito geothermal adding its rated capacity of 55 MW back to the grid following outages after the typhoon Yolanda last year.

Energy Development Corp. (EDC) brings another unit of its geothermal plants online in the Philippines after the typhoon Yolanda in November last year.

It now reports to having recommissioned Unit 1 of the Bacon-Manito (BacMan) geothermal power plants.

“Recommissioning of BacMan’s Unit I had commenced as its turbine unit was rolled, slowly loaded up to its rated capacity of 55 megawatts [MW] and subjected to a reliability run period. While a tripping event has occurred, the unit has—since January 30, 2014—been operating at rated capacity, even as it remains subjected to close monitoring and/or to additional tests,” said EDC.

The 55-MW BacMan unit 1 went offline in May last year for inspections after Unit 2 was shut down because a turbine blade was sheared off, causing damage to the equipment. As a precaution, EDC suspended the operation of Unit 1.

“Further to an interim inspection conducted on BacMan Unit 1 [in] September 2013, management decided to extend its shutdown after hairline cracks were detected in two turbine blades of Unit 1. As an interim solution, a third party contractor was commissioned to repair the unit,” EDC added.

A permanent solution being considered is the replacement of a turbine motor which, EDC said, should take place by the last quarter of the year until early 2015.

“Targeted delivery dates of the brand-new turbine rotor and diaphragms from Toshiba for both BacMan Units 1 and 2 [are on] the fourth quarter [for the first unit] and the first quarter of 2015 [for the second unit],” it added.

The BacMan facility straddles the towns of Bacon in Sorsogon and Manito in Albay. The geothermal power plant consists of BacMan 1 (with two 55-MW units] and BacMan 2 [with two 20-MW units].”

Source: Business Mirror Philippines