Jan 192014
 
EDC to restore Leyte power plant

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Development Corp., the Lopez-owned geothermal company, is eyeing to restore all the units of its 650-megawatt Unified Leyte Power Plant by August. The power facility in Leyte, the single biggest source of electricity in the Visayas, shut down after Super Typhoon Yolanda damaged some units when it struck in some parts of the Visayas in November last year. “We should have all the units back in operation around August and possibly earlier depending on the availability of spare parts which is dependent on manufacturing lead time,” said EDC president Richard Tantoco. EDC has been able to repair the damaged facility in phases, successfully dispatching 292 MW to the Visayas Grid to date. “For Unified Leyte, we are now producing a total of 292 MW,” Tantoco said.  Tantoco said the facility would definitely be back online at full capacity this year. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Last week, EDC said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that the company has been able to run another unit of the Malitbog facility, allowing the plant to produce additional capacity of 75 MW. “EDC has successfully energized another unit of the Malitbog Power Plant, with an additional capacity of 75MW. Said unit is now on start-up mode and under reliability and other tests,” the EDC said in its disclosure. In early January, EDC restored the first unit with a capacity of 75 MW in coordination with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, Read More …

Aug 122013
 
First Gen earnings drop 17% to $77.7 M in H1

MANILA, Philippines – First Gen Corp. posted a net income of $77.7 million in the first half of 2013, down 17.4 percent from $94 million in the same period last year.  First Gen president Francis Giles Puno attributed the drop in earnings to the lower income booked by subsidiary First Gen Hydro Power Corp. (FG Hydro) owing to reduced sales from ancillary services.  However, Puno said they had anticipated the decline in earnings for the period. “The dip in earnings was expected given the reduced revenues from ancillary services and further delays in the rehabilitation of BacMan,” the First Gen executive said.  “The incident at San Lorenzo’s Unit 60 was unfortunate, but we have already ordered a new transformer to get the unit back in operation as soon as possible,” he added.  “While EDC actually generated higher revenues and achieved savings in its operating expenses, the foreign exchange losses could not be avoided with the depreciation of the peso,” he noted.  Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “The company is extremely busy in executing its growth projects, including the 87-megawatt wind farm in Burgos, the 40-MW Negros transfer project, and the 500-MW San Gabriel natural gas projects,” he added. Puno said the 1,500-MW First Gas plants also incurred higher interest expenses and provision for deferred income tax due to the depreciation of the peso, though partially offset by the contribution of the purchase of the BG Group’s 40 percent stake in the plants in May 2012.  Its Read More …

Jul 112013
 
EDC allots $66.3 M for Chile, Peru projects

MANILA, Philippines – Lopez-led geothermal firm Energy Development Corp. (EDC) is spending roughly $66.3 million for its projects in Chile and Peru. EDC would spend $58.3 million for its projects in Mariposa in Chile and the remaining $8 million for its Peruvian projects, the company said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) yesterday. EDC’s investments in the project form part its joint venture agreement with Alterra Power Corp., a Canada-based energy company for geothermal projects in Chile and Peru. The company announced in June that under a shareholders’ agreement for the Mariposa project in Chile, EDC would acquire 70 percent interest in Compañía De Energia (Enerco). Enerco is an Alterra subsidiary in Chile that owns the Mariposa project. Alterra will continue to hold a 30 percent interest in Enerco through its wholly owned subsidiary Magma Energy Chile Limitada, subject to the terms of the shareholders’ agreement for the Mariposa project, EDC added.  “The terms of the project agreements call for EDC to fund the next $58.3 million in project expenditures in the Mariposa project and $8.0 million in project expenditures for all the Peruvian projects to top up Alterra’s past development costs,” EDC said in its disclosure. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 For the Mariposa project, the agreement contemplates implementing an agreed work plan that will further develop the Mariposa Project by building infrastructures over the next 18 months, EDC also said. For the Peruvian projects, proponents would conduct various exploration surveys over the next Read More …