Philippines:

BacMan’s Unit 1 Resumes Operations (Inquirer.net)

Bacon-Manito geothermal plant (Courtesy EDC)

Energy Development Corp. (EDC), has resumed the operations of the 55 MWe Unit 1 of the Bacon-Manito geothermal plants in Albay and Sorsogon.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Monday, EDC said its subsidiary, BacMan Geothermal Inc., had  started running Unit 1 on March 27 and was able to ramp up power generation to 55 MWe on Monday (April 8).

BacMan Geothermal, however, intends to shut down Unit 1 again after 30 days of operation to inspect and assess the power facility’s condition.

“Based on the findings of such inspection, BacMan Geothermal will decide whether or not any restrictions to the future operation of Unit 1 will be necessary. The review will also determine the needed time intervals between future inspections of Unit 1,” EDC explained.

EDC resumed the commercial operations of the BacMan facilities on Feb. 25 this year, generating a total of 110 MWe then. Only the BacMan I facility—which has two 55-MWe power units both commissioned in 1993—had been fully rehabilitated. The BacMan II facility, which has one remaining unit with a capacity of 20 MWe unit, has yet to be put online.

Days after it resumed operations, EDC had to shut down the geothermal plants, after a turbine blade at the Unit 2 was sheared off. Unit 1 was similarly shut down even if it did not experience similar problems.

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