First Gen Corporation announced it will allocate up to 690 megawatts (MW) of geothermal power for the Department of Energy’s (DOE) green energy option program (GEOP).
In a report by BusinessWorld, First Gen VP for power marketing, trading, and economics Carlos Lorenzo Vega said the firm will make use of the Lopez group’s geothermal plants such as the 140MW Bacon-Manito (Bac-Man) plant in Albay, the 400-450MW Unified Leyte plants, and the 100MW Mt. Apo facility in North Cotabato (photo above).
Lopez-led firms BacMan Geothermal, Inc. — a subsidiary of Energy Development Corporation — and First Gen Energy Solutions (FGES) are among the six firms the DOE allowed to participate in the GEOP. FGES is First Gen’s retail electricity supplier (RES).
An initiative of the DOE that began in 2018, the GEOP will allow consumers to exclusively source at least 100 kilowatts of renewable energy from RESs.
Vega said the GEOP was a non-fiscal incentive that gives end-users the opportunity to choose renewables for their respective electricity demands. He added that it could help consumers comply with the DOE’s energy conservation guidelines.