National News: EDC to Relocate Northern Negros Plant to Palinpinon Power Complex
By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, InterAksyon.com
Energy Development Corp. (EDC) plans to transfer its shuttered geothermal plant in Negros Occidental to the company’s Palinpinon power complex in Negros Oriental.
Ernesto B. Pantangco, EDC executive vice president, said the company’s Northern Negros geothermal plant "will now be relocated to Palinpinon."
The Northern Negros plant had a power generating capacity of 49 megawatts when it was put up in 2007, but steam production had regressed significantly, forcing EDC to shut down the facility last year.
The company had planned to scale down the operation of the plant commensurate to the lower steam output of its geothermal wells.
The Palinpinon geothermal power complex has a total generating capacity of 192.5 megawatts.
EDC scheduled the rehabilitation of the Palinpinon this year to improve its output. The company aims to complete this before the year ends.
Pantangco said rehabilitation work on another shuttered power plant complex in Sorsogon and Albay is scheduled to conclude this year.
"We have Bacon-Manito (BacMan). Hopefully, we’ll get that in commercial operation of 130 megawatts by last quarter this year," he said.
As with the Palinpinon plant, which it acquired in 2009, EDC took control of the 150-megawatt BacMan geothermal plant upon winning a public bidding in 2010.
The facility, however, had deteriorated significantly in government hands.*
