Lopez-led Energy Development Corporation (EDC) has begun construction works on the expansion of the Bacon-Manito (BacMan) Geothermal Power Plant.
EDC recently announced that First Balfour, also a Lopez firm, has secured the Php1.3 billion Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the 23-megawatt (MW) Palayan Binary Plant Balance of Plant Works Package. The new project will be particularly located in Manito, Albay.
The BOP works package contract covers the installation of equipment necessary to generate energy using the residual brine flow from the existing EDC steam field. The contract also includes EPC works for the civil, structural, and electromechanical works to complete the expansion project.
The binary power plant project is also expected to boost Bicol’s local economy as 70% of its target total manpower will be sourced from Albay and Sorsogon.
Upon completion in 2022, the plant will boost the overall power generation capacity of the existing BacMan geothermal facility, which currently generates 120MW in steam capacity.
“It was in 2018 when we first started discussing this prospect with EDC and original equipment manufacturers (OEM). But with the persistence of the tender team and the full support of our management, we were able to win this project despite limitations caused by community quarantine protocols,” First Balfour Business Development Manager Joram San Luis said in a statement.
First Balfour further said that the new project will soon be followed by two more related work packages. These are the Fluid Collection Reinjection System, which will transport the steam from the existing EDC facility to this Binary Plant and the Connection Assets Works Package, which will connect the plant to the electricity grid.
EDC President and CEO Richard Tantoco said last year that other than BacMan, the company is working on expanding existing geothermal capacities in its Leyte and Mt. Apo sites. The projects, he said, could generate an additional 80MW in capacity.
Photo from EDC website.
