Despite the country’s huge potential for producing renewable energy, the lack of incentives and limited access to land with sources of geothermal energy are holding back investors from venturing into geothermal, an official of the Energy Development Corp. (EDC) said.
Interviewed on Friday at the sidelines of the Third Philippine Environment Summit held in Cagayan de Oro City, Allan V. Barcena, corporate social responsibility head said the company has no plan to expand or establish new concession areas. The company, Barcena said, is focused on putting up binary plants inside existing concessions.
EDC currently operates geothermal plants in Kananga and Ormoc, Leyte; Valencia in Negros Oriental; Bacon in Sorsogon and Manito in Albay; and Kidapawan in North Cotabato. These same sites will be the site of binary plants which the company will put up within the year.
Unlike solar and wind power, Barcena said geothermal energy is not getting any incentive from the government, as a come-on for investors.
“Given that wind, solar and hydro has an incentive, geothermal is not getting any incentive. We were told that geothermal is not a new technology but we are arguing that geothermal technology is evolving, like the reinjection technology,” he said.
The company will build at least four binary plants within its existing concessions to maximize the production capacity of its geothermal plants. “We’ve been trying to advocate, even with this small binary plants to have incentives, initially.”
Binary plants are low-capacity plants ranging from 5 megawatts to 20 MW and are not as profitable. These are meant to maximize income sans the huge cost and the hassle of the permitting process in establishing new concession areas for a new geothermal plant, said Barcena.
Fortunately, he said the company’s four operating geothermal plants in the country consistently produce energy. “Overtime, its production slows down but the upside in geothermal is they can be operated for a long period of time.”
Barcena said accessing areas with geothermal potential is difficult because most these sites are in protected areas. The National Integrated Protected Areas System Act strictly prohibits “environmentally critical” projects within strict protection zones in PAs.
“We don’t want to go into those areas that are very challenging in terms of permitting and stakeholder engagement,” he said.
EDC also operates a solar farm, hydro plant, and has ventured into solar rooftops targeting shopping malls and learning institutions.
Image credits: Photo from EDC