ABOITIZ Power Corp. (AboitizPower) expects an additional 17 megawatts (MW) from its geothermal power plant in Tiwi, Albay when its renewables arm completes a binary project within the existing facility.
On Tuesday, AboitizPower, through its subsidiary AP Renewables Inc. (APRI), broke ground for its Tiwi binary geothermal power plant project, which is expected to be completed by yearend.
“The Tiwi binary power plant is a facility designed to extract the recoverable heat from the geothermal brine that is processed in a closed-loop system where no harmful gas or liquid is being emitted nor any waste products are discharged to the atmosphere,” said Jeffrey R. Estrella, president and chief operating officer of APRI.
The project will be built from the ground up with an entirely new binary plant system, pipes, and transmission line. It is located within the 1.5-hectare Tiwi geothermal power plant.
“The design will produce an additional 17-MW gross generated electricity, an additional source of clean energy to the Luzon grid,” Mr. Estrella said.
In December, AboitizPower announced that it signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Ormat Technologies, Inc. and Desco, Inc. for the development of its binary plant.
The company also signed last year an agreement with its steam provider for the supply of brine, which will fuel the binary plant.
In a video message, James A. Villaroman, chief renewable energy (RE) officer of AboitizPower, said that additional renewables capacity will be vital for the country’s energy security.
“Our country embarks on an energy transition; we recognize we must work with others both within and outside our industry to contribute to the nation’s energy goals. The scale of the transformation of the country’s energy system requires collaboration and innovation. This project is a testament to that,” Mr. Villaroman added.
Geothermal energy, a form of renewable energy, comes from the earth’s heat and is produced by drilling production wells into the ground to tap high-temperature fluids from geothermal reservoirs.
The APRI Tiwi binary project will form part of AboitizPower’s target to grow the attributable capacity of Cleanergy, the company’s renewable energy brand, in the next 10 years.
By the end of 2030, AboitizPower is targeting to expand Cleanergy in the Philippines and abroad. It is targeting to build an additional 3,700 MW of RE, growing its capacities to 4,600 MW by 2030.
Currently, the company has 1,000 MW of RE projects. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
