First Gen confirms plans for P25B redevelopment of steam field

Merkado Barkada

October 17, 2024 | 8:20am

First Gen [FGEN 18.06 unch; 66% avgVol] [link], the Lopez Family’s power generation arm, clarified reporting on its plan to redevelop portions of its Southern Negros geothermal project in Valencia, Negros Occidental. FGEN confirmed that its subsidiary, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) filed paperwork with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to “reshape its development block to 400 hectares from the current 151.5 hectares to sustain its output leading to 2057”. FGEN clarified that EDC is still finalizing its plans, but that the plans currently call for drilling “around two or more new wells”, adding well pads, and constructing all of the roads, pipelines, support structures and “emerging technologies” as may be required to support the expansion. FGEN said that the “initial estimate” of the redevelopment’s cost is P25 billion, but noted that EDC is still “checking its assumptions and finalizing cost requirements given the long timeframe and extensive nature of the project.”

MB bottom-line: In my piece yesterday about our continued reliance on coal despite the exponential blossoming of our renewable energy industry, I pointed to the value of coal’s “baseload” output as the reason why we struggle to leave coal in the past where it belongs. This is a great companion story, as geothermal power is also baseload power, but does not come with anywhere near the same level of environmental disruption or destruction as coal. Geothermal power also doesn’t actively kill people. The problem (as shown by this ?25 billion price tag for redevelopment) is that geothermal power is expensive to produce and that it’s not entirely “renewable” in that there’s some level of “depletion risk” if too much heat is extracted from a well. That being said, the Philippines has a good inventory of viable geothermal sites that could be further developed to produce clean, sustainable, continuous electricity output. Going beyond the market for a moment, I have nothing but respect for companies like FGEN that push the development of geothermal technology.   

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