Tiwi binary geothermal plant on track to open by end-2023
By Alena Mae S. Flores – June 22, 2023, 7:35 pm
from manilastandard.net
Aboitiz Power Corp. said Thursday the construction of a binary geothermal plant in the Tiwi geothermal facility in Albay province continues to progress towards providing an additional 17 megawatts of clean electricity — sourced from residual heat from the hot brine side of the geothermal production process by the end of the year.
Aboitiz Power made the announcement as it assured the operations of the Tiwi geothermal power plant remain under normal conditions and continue to supply the Luzon grid despite increased activity from the Mayon volcano.
Aboitiz Power subsidiary AP Renewables Inc. is one of the Philippines’ leading geothermal energy producers, serving as the operator of the Tiwi facility and the MakBan geothermal power plant with a current actual capacity of 118 MW and 231 MW, respectively.
APRI president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Estrella said the facility observed no significant temperature and fluid flow effects on its geothermal electricity production or other issues.
“The complex gross generation for the past week has been around 120 megawatts with no incident relating to Mayon’s unrest,” he said.
“Nonetheless, despite Tiwi Geothermal’s distance to Mayon’s crater of about 24 kilometers, we remain on safety alert for any possible eventualities,” he said.
The province of Albay was placed under a state of calamity due to the threat of eruption by Mount Mayon, which is currently under Alert Level 3 due to its “intensified unrest” or magmatic unrest.
People living within the “permanent danger zone” or the six-kilometer radius were evacuated.
Recent data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council indicated that there are close to 5,800 affected families, composed of over 20,000 individuals, from six municipalities and two component cities in the province.
The affected families are now staying in evacuation centers that include local government-owned evacuation centers, public schools and other buildings converted into temporary shelters in the cities of Ligao and Tabaco, and the towns of Sto. Domingo, Malilipot, Guinobatan, Camalig and Daraga.
Aboitiz Foundation Inc. donated 10,000 sacks of five kilograms of rice to the evacuees of Camalig and Daraga in support of the evacuation efforts of the provincial government of Albay.
The office of Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda received the donation on behalf of Albay. The Ago Medical and Educational Center also provided their gym as a temporary storage house for the rice.
Aboitiz Foundation is the social development arm of the Aboitiz Group.
