EDC leans on US technology to boost geothermal capacity
At A Glance
- Philippine geothermal fleets at present yield roughly 1,935 megawatts of power capacity; and that is seen escalating to 2,145MW by the turn of the decade.
Lopez-led Energy Development Corporation (EDC) will be leaning on the technology of American firm GreenFire Energy Inc. in shoring up the capacity of its geothermal assets – primarily in beefing up the generation capacity of its Mahanagdong geothermal facility in Leyte.
San Francisco-headquartered GreenFire Energy will be deploying its patented ‘GreenLoop’ or its closed-loop Advanced Geothermal System (AGS) innovation for the Filipino firm – and that will be underpinned by a grant from the US Trade and Development Agency.
EDC Head of New Business Miko De Vera conveyed “the grant is a recognition of the need to adopt, pilot and deploy new and emerging technologies that have the potential to accelerate the rollout of more renewable power, and of geothermal energy in particular.”
The company added it will adopt the GreenLoop technology to boost “steam production from an idle well and initiate technology rollout into nearby sectors at EDC’s Leyte geothermal site and in other active EDC geothermal sites in the Philippines.”
The Lopez firm is currently the biggest geothermal power producer in the country, and it is also well-positioned to elevate the country’s stature as a mammoth global player in this technology domain.
According to EDC, the GreenLoop technology which was designed for steam-dominated and two-phase reservoirs (referencing to liquid and steam) will be initially utilized in an idle well at its Mahanagdong geothermal field in Leyte.
Then if the technology rollout in that facility would yield successful outcome, De Vera indicated that further deployment of GreenLoop at the EDC geothermal facilities will eventually be carried out.
Essentially with that technology application, EDC is aiming “to dramatically expand power production from idle, non-producing geothermal wells,” and that in turn could de-risk geothermal projects.
“GreenLoop has the unique capability to extract heat, rather than mass, from the geothermal resource which conserves water, maintains pressure in the geothermal resource, and ensures the long term sustainability of the resource,” the Lopez firm emphasized.
GreenFire Energy CEO Joseph Scherer indicated that GreenLoop is an innovative technology that will greatly reshape geothermal energy production – primarily in a market, like the Philippines, which had seen downtrend in its geothermal output through the years.
“This partnership underscores our commitment to the Philippines and to sustainable geothermal energy while minimizing environmental impact,” Scherer stressed.
Philippine geothermal fleets at present yield roughly 1,935 megawatts of power capacity; and that is seen escalating to 2,145MW by the turn of the decade.