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MANILA – Energy Development Corp. is looking at three other geothermal exploration areas in Chile after the Lopez-owned company’s initial prospects turned sour.
Richard B. Tantoco, EDC president and chief operating officer, said the company plans to undertake preliminary survey work in its three geothermal exploration concession areas of Newen, San Rafael and Batea in Chile after similar studies on the Calerias and Longavi prospects proved commercially unviable.
"We recognize that developing a geothermal project takes a lot of time and resources, and has an element of risk in terms of finding the geothermal resource. But with our technical expertise, solid track record and strong financial position, we remain confident about EDC’s long-term prospects in the international arena," Tantoco said.
Besides the three concessions in Chile, EDC also plans to pursue other concession areas in its bid to develop the first geothermal power plant in the South American country. EDC has four pending applications for geothermal concessions in the said country.
The company projects Chile's geothermal capacity at around 16,000 megawatts largely because these resources are relatively under developed.
In contrast, the Philippines, the second largest geothermal energy producer in the world next to the US, only has around 2,600 megawatts of untapped geothermal resource left based on earlier figures from the Department of Energy.
Besides Chile, EDC is also seeking opportunities in other countries where large geothermal resources are believed to be similarly abundant. It has a pending application for preliminary survey rights in Indonesia and is looking to develop geothermal projects in Peru and Kenya.
"We are now expanding our international resources so we can better understand the local settings to complement our more than 35 years of technical expertise developed in the Philippines," Tantoco said.
The world's second largest geothermal company, EDC is engaged in the exploration, development and optimization of geothermal fields, as well as in the operation and maintenance of the geothermal power plants with an installed capacity of 1,130 megawatts in the Philippines.
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