PetroEnergy eyes expanding portfolio to spur RE business
BY LENIE LECTURA – FEBRUARY 28, 2022
from Business Mirror
PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (PERC) is planning to expand its geothermal portfolio to further boost its renewable energy (RE) presence in the country.
“Our geothermal expansion, a potential third power plant, is anywhere between 10-30 megawatts (MW). Our technical team is still studying optimum size but since it is baseload, even modest size will be good,” PERC Vice President Francisco G. Delfin said.
PERC, a member of the Yuchengco Group of Companies (YGC), is engaged in petroleum exploration and production in Gabon, West Africa and RE development in the Philippines. PERC’s RE holding unit, PetroGreen Energy Corp. (PGEC), operates five power stations in the country through three operating companies: the 32MW Maibarara geothermal project by Maibarara Geothermal Inc.; the 70MW Tarlac solar project by PetroSolar Corp.; and, the 36 MW Nabas-1 wind project by PetroWind Energy Inc.
Delfin said the geothermal expansion will happen after the company completes the expansion of its solar and wind power projects.
“In terms of priority, our geothermal expansion in Maibarara will take a back seat towards expansion of our existing solar and wind projects. We are being conservative,” Delfin added. “We’re looking at anywhere from 10-30 MW expansion, but we need to do more studies to pinpoint the actual size of the expansion but that’s the range that we’re looking at.”
The geothermal expansion will probably happen in a few more years since “one to two years of expansion will be focused on our wind and solar, especially based on existing SCs (service contracts) we have with the DOE (Department of Energy) plus new contracts that we have recently been getting into.”
The planned timeline, Delfin said, is “partly dictated by cost consideration, as well as off-take opportunities.”
