Alastair McIndoe, Straits Times 17 Dec 09;
A 192MW geothermal plant on Negros island in the central Philippines run by the privately owned Energy Development Corporation. The country is the world's second-biggest producer of geothermal energy, and it plans to ramp up production. -- ST PHOTO: ALASTAIR MCINDOE
HERE in the Philippines at a geothermal power plant on the slopes of a dormant volcano in the central island of Negros, the thick plume of hot vapour furiously belching from a ground vent is an apt metaphor for the country's full-steam development of this green energy source.
The Philippines already has the world's largest installed geothermal capacity after the United States, with seven plants across the archipelago accounting for 20 per cent of the total energy mix. The government aims to increase that level to meet expectations of surging energy demand.
In the coming months, concessions to explore and develop a further 19 geothermal sites across the archipelago will be awarded to winning bidders, according to Mr Alejandro Oanes, head of the Department of Energy's geothermal division.
A landmark renewable energy law was passed last year to generate private investments in the sector through sizeable tax breaks and other financial sweeteners.
'Because of the Renewable Energy Act, there is a lot of investor interest to develop geothermal power that will help us reduce oil imports further,' said Mr Oanes.
Installed geothermal capacity in the Philippines is 1,900MW. Energy experts reckon that can be doubled over the next decade.
The government estimates that geothermal power has saved the country nearly US$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) in precious foreign exchange reserves since the first plant began operations here in 1976.
It was the crippling oil crisis of the 1970s that prompted the Philippines to search for local energy sources.
The country is already developing its own oil and gas reserves, and its
energy authorities are considering reviving a mothballed nuclear energy plant, though this appears a long shot. In the field of green energy, geothermal resources offer the biggest potential.
The country lies in a region of volcanic and seismic activity in the Paci-fic Ocean called the Ring of Fire. These underground heat reservoirs can be tapped with the same drilling technology as for oil and gas.
'There is still sufficient heat in inactive volcanoes to harness for geothermal power,' said Mr Dwight Maxino, manager of the Southern Negros Geothermal Production Field (SNGPF), a unit of the privately owned Energy Development Corporation, which runs five of the country's geothermal plants.
Geothermal power punches below its weight as a global energy source. The technology requires heavy initial investment. The cost of drilling an exploration well alone is S$6 million. But once the power plant is up and running, operating and maintenance costs are relatively low. Furthermore, 'this is an inexhaustible energy resource if you don't over-exploit extraction', said Mr Ariel Fronda, a government researcher into geothermal energy.
And on Negros, geothermal energy constitutes truly green power. The forests surrounding the SNGPF are unusually lush. Decades of logging had stripped the forest cover on all but 5 per cent of this large island, famous for its sugar plantations. But forests are needed as protective cover for the steamfields feeding the SNGPF's power systems and so the forest has been regrown.
