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| Drill site MP-02 at the Mariposa geothermal Project (Courtesy Alterra Power) |
Philippines company Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has postponed its 3-well drilling campaign for the Mariposa Geothermal Project in Chile. This, said EDC, was due to the “challenging project economics resulting from the recent fall in prices of competing fossil fuels.”
The drilling campaign, which intends to prove the availability of resources in the area, was originally scheduled mid-October this year.
Earlier, the company said it would invest $85 million or nearly P4 billion to conduct exploratory activities within a geothermal prospect in Chile. EDC, however, said it continues to pursue development activities with greater focus, including conducting further environmental and technical studies for the steam field, power plant, and transmission line interconnection.
“EDC continues to be committed in developing the Mariposa Project and remains optimistic on the long-term prospects of the Chilean electricity market,” the company said in a statement.
To advance the development of Mariposa, EDC said it would prioritize investing in technical studies for the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the steam field, power plant and for the transmission line connection. It will also proceed with the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project.