The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is currently undertaking studies on ‘de-risking strategy’ that can be employed in the planned development of the array of geothermal power development prospects in the country.

According to Energy Undersecretary Rowena L. Guevara, the de-risking roadmap “will identify, evaluate and recommend” action plans on geothermal pre-development risk management that will then aid investors on turning targeted geothermal projects into financially-viable proposition.

Essentially, de-risking entails crafting of approaches that will efficiently manage the risks relating to specific investment plans – and in the case of geothermal, this may relate to exploratory and technical risks as well as financing schemes for projects, among others.

The energy official indicated that the government has been sorting out various policy frameworks on how fresh investments could be enticed in the geothermal sector – so the country could potentially rise back to its ranking as the second biggest producer of this energy resource in the world.

Amid the prevailing industry challenges, the initial bright spots seen by the DOE would be expected capacity addition from geothermal power projects that will be reaching commercial operations by December this year.

“Three geothermal energy projects are under construction and expected to be online by December 2023,” Guevara said, specifying that this will include the 17-megawatt Tiwi binary geothermal power plant; 29 MW Palayan binary power plant; and the 2.0MW Biliran geothermal facility.

By next year, additional 5.6MW capacity is also anticipated coming on-line from the 5.6MW Bago binary geothermal plant as well as from the 20MW Tanawon geothermal facility.

The DOE is similarly expecting additional geothermal capacity shoring up at the scale of 381MW from prospective developments that are still “undergoing pre-feasibility studies.”

Onward, the DOE official noted that policy reinforcements are also being pushed for geothermal projects “to accelerate the development of low to medium enthalpy geothermal resource area mainly for power generation.”

She explained that these sites are being targeted for exploration “to assess the economic feasibility of small-scale geothermal power projects for local power needs; and prepare the comprehensive data package showcasing this type of geothermal resource for future private investor participations.”

On the sphere of technological advancement, the energy official conveyed that one of the researchers at the DOE who completed his Masters degree in Iceland had “investigated the use of emerging technologies to boost the utilization of our geothermal fields.”

The particular focus of that study, she stated, is on “the feasibility of using geoejector to connect a low-pressure well that has a lower pressure than the pressure threshold of the steam gathering system” – and that was primarily tested at the Theistareykir geothermal field in Iceland.

“The results of the study were promising, as simulations indicate that the geoejector has the potential to extract up to 800 kWe, equivalent to 40% of the wellhead potential of the low-pressure well,” Guevara stressed.