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Geothermal bid in quest for 60 MW power development in Guam, Micronesia

Geothermal bid in quest for 60 MW power development in Guam, Micronesia Island cost at Yona, Guam in Micronesia (source: flickr/ Jonathan Miske, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 25 Nov 2016

In a recent call for proposals for the development of up to 60 MW in renewable energy power generation capacity on Guam, a U.S. territory in Micronesia, one bidder proposed the development of a 10 MW geothermal project.

In a quest to push development of up to 60 MW in power generation development, the Power Authority(GPA) of Guam, a U.S. island territory in Micronesia in the Philippine Sea (off the costs of the Philippines, Japan and Papua New Guinea, has narrowed down a list of bidders to seven qualified proponents.

As reported locally in discussion with GPA General Manager John Benavente., a total of 60 MW are available for companies and organizations to take up as part of the utility’s second phase of renewable energy integration. Most of the qualified bidders are proposing solar energy, with one party having proposed geothermal energy. The single bidder for a wind project did not make the short list due to failing to meet the bid requirements.

With regular typhoons, wind energy development is regarded as challenging and an earlier project was abandoned due to lack of progress. There is though one lone windmill, funded through a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office Insular Affairs, remains GPA’s single source of utility wind power.

While wind energy may have potential on Guam, the geothermal energy resources are described as somewhat limited. This hasn’t prevented one company from suggesting up to 10 MW in geothermal power. The concern with geothermal, according to Benavente, is that few entities – including GPA – have been willing to expend the cost needed to explore such energy sources. The cost of a geothermal plant would be determined by the depth of the heat source and there are several other variables to consider, Benavente said. What is certain, he added, is that contracting for geothermal energy would require some type of sunset provision in case it takes too long to utilize the technology.

 But even with uncertainty in geothermal energy, some commissioners appeared interested in exploring what has largely been uncharted territory for Guam. Other people involved are also hopeful on geothermal energy.  Actual price proposals from the bidders are due by Dec. 20, 2016. GPA hopes to provide a notification of a successful bidder or bidders to commissioners by January 2017.

The seven qualified bidders were:

  1. Hanwha Energy Corp./Pacific Petroleum Trading Co.
  2. Shanghai Electric Power Co. Ltd./Terra Energy
  3. Sean ENC./NexGeo Consortium
  4. LSIS Co. Ltd.
  5. Quantum/Guam Clean Energy
  6. Pacific Solar Storage 1 (Guam) LLC – Solar City
  7. KEPCO-LG CNS

We are not sure which of those companies is the one proposing a geothermal project.

Some background on some renewable energy research and opportunities can be found in this document by NREL of 2010 (geothermal is on page 38 of the pdf)

Source: Post Guam