EDC boosts local, overseas RE portfolio

By Lenie Lectura – September 25, 2018
from Business Mirror

LOPEZ-LED Energy Development Corp. (EDC) is beefing up its renewable-energy (RE) portfolio here and abroad, with plans to expand soon its solar, wind and geothermal assets.

EDC currently delivers 1,472 megawatts (MW) of RE to the country in the form of hydro, solar and wind power apart from geothermal.

EDC President Richard B. Tantoco said last week during the National Sustainability Summit for Millennials and Gen Zs that the company is planning to install solar power in “about 14 to 15 different malls” and is looking at “nine promising sites” for wind power installation in Ilocos.

Transmission constraints, however, may put the planned wind projects on hold but the company, noted its president, is still determined to look for opportunities. “There are different issues in different sites.”

“We are now looking at some capacity expansion inside our existing geothermal sites,” added Tantoco.

EDC’s 150-MW Burgos Wind Farm is the biggest in the country, while its almost 1,200-MW geothermal installed capacity accounts for 61 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity. 

EDC operates the Unified Leyte geothermal power facility in the same province. It consists of the 125-MW Upper Mahiao plant, the 232.5-MW Matlibog plant, the 180-MW Mahanagdong plant and the 51-MW Leyte optimization plants. It also operates the 112.5-MW Tongonan geothermal.

The company has allocated P7 billion in capital expenditures (capex) this year mainly to improve reliability of its steam plants.

For its overseas geothermal prospects, EDC is preparing for auction for Chile and Peru geothermal assets.

He said pricing reviews for a geothermal investment in Chile, possibly around 150 MW, are in the works now.

In Peru EDC awaits government auction for geothermal sites.

EDC is also looking at Indonesia, with an assessed potential of probably 200 MW. “We’re doing it now. Drilling is expected to take place in about 18 to 24 months.”

Tantoco said that Indonesian law compels EDC to look for a local partner there, but he said that “it’s too early to sell” because the project is still in the predevelopment stage. “We are always open to it. By law, it requires us to find a partner, 5 percent.”

EDC, the country’s largest geothermal and wind energy company, posted P4.1 billion in net income from January to June this year, 21 percent lower than the P5.2 billion recorded in the same period a year ago.

Revenues also declined to P17.1 billion, down by 3 percent, from P17.7 billion in the same period last year.

EDC’s lower first-half performance was mainly affected by the damage brought about by Typhoon Urduja last December.