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“We are looking at a complete capital expenditure of about P20 billion company-wide," said Energy Development Corp. (EDC) President Richard B. Tantoco in a press briefing after the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday.
Some of the budget will be used for the rehabilitation of the Bacon-Manito geothermal plant, the purchase of brand new rigs and transfer of the Northern Negros geothermal plant to the Nasulo site in the Palinpinon geothermal complex, he said.
Meanwhile, the transfer of the shuttered Northern Negros geothermal facilities is expected to increase the company’s revenues as it will increase the capacity of the Nasulo site.
“We have two adjacent wells in Nasulo that are over 45-MW but [with an installed capacity of] only 20 MW. So with the move of Northern Negros, [there will be] additional capacity,” Mr. Tantoco said. “Typically, when you look at geothermal power, one megawatt delivers about P40 million to P45 million per year, so the new capacity will mean almost P1 billion new revenues,” he added.
There is no timeline yet for the transfer of Northern Negros but Mr. Tantoco said the firm will be bidding out a contract by June. After the Northern Negros plant is moved, EDC will build a much smaller plant in the area. It will have a capacity of 5 MW to 10 MW.
