First Gen scouting for drilling projects internationally
Geothermal drilling at Te Mihi west of Wairakei, New Zealand. not related to story. (source: Rjglewis, Commons/ Wikimedia)
Alexander Richter
29 Mar 2010
Philippines' First Gen Corp. of the Lopez group is scouting for prospective geothermal drilling projects in countries like Chile, Kenya and Indonesia.
Reported in news from the Philippines, “First Gen Corp. of the Lopez group is scouting for prospective geothermal drilling projects in countries like Chile, Kenya and Indonesia.
“(There’s) no project yet, but we’re scouting a lot of these countries with geothermal potentials. We’re looking at and visiting, but we’re not at that point yet that we’ve partnered or gotten any concessions,” said First Gen president Federico Lopez.
Lopez had said that among the countries that have huge geothermal potential are Indonesia, with a 27,000-megawatt potential; New Zealand, 5,000 MW; Japan, 20,000 MW; Kenya, 2,000 MW; Italy, 700 MW; Iceland, 5,800 MW; United States, 23,000 MW; and Mexico, 1,088 MW.
Since last year, First Gen has been preparing the company for its foray in the international market as it will soon reach its limits in the local market as specified under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
As the largest power generation company in the Philippines, First Gen has an installed capacity of 2,887.4 MW, which accounts for about 19 percent of total installed capacity in the country.
However, the EPIRA Law limits generation capacity of related groups to less than 25 percent of the national installed capacity.
First Gen expects its geothermal unit, Energy Development Corp., to provide it a “solid platform to eventually pursue international expansion.”
Source: Business Inquirer
