Construction starts on 12 MW expansion of Maibarara geothermal project

At the groundbreaking of the 12 MW second phase development of the Maibarara geothermal project in Sto Tomas, Batangas in the Philippines, the developer Maibarara Geothermal reports that it sees an additional 8 MW expansion potential.

With this possible additional 8 MW, the field could expand power production to up to 40 MW in the future, so MGI President Francisco G. Delfin, Jr.

“It may not necessarily just be 8 MW. We can expand for more but subject to additional environmental permitting,” he added.

This year’s expansion comes two years after the 20-MW first phase started operating commercially in 2014. The company monitored the reservoir — the hot water and steam underneath that becomes the source of fuel — and decided to test for additional capacity.

“We drilled additional wells in 2014. We tested them in 2015 and these additional wells show that we have additional capacity that is sufficient for more power generation,” Mr. Delfin said.

The second phase development is expected to be finished in the fall of 2017. The 12 MW expansion now under construction has an estimated cost of  P1.86 billion ($40 million). This is partly being finanzed by a P1.4 billion loan ($30 million) by Rizal Commercial Banking Corp and equity from existing shareholders.

The Maibarara Project and Plant is a joint venture by PetroGreen Energy Corp., Phinma Energy Corp. and PNOC Renewables Corp. with stakes of 65%, 25% and 10%, respectively. PetroGreen is a subsidiary of publicly listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp.

MGI has contracted Fuji Electric of Japan to build and supply the turbine and generator for the second phase, which Mr. Delfin said is “currently the only active construction of a new geothermal power plant in the country.”

MGI’s President Delfin Jr. expects annual revenues to reach P1.1 billion ($23 million) by 2018 when the second phase expansion starts operation.

Source: Business World Online