EDC chairman Federico R. Lopez (3rd from left) and president Richard Tantoco (leftmost) switch on the system simulation with Sec. Jericho Petilla and Mayor Edgar Teves of Valencia, Negros OrientalEnergy Development Corporation (EDC) inaugurated the 49.4-megawatt (MW) Nasulo geothermal plant in Valencia, Negros Oriental on September 26. The inauguration was led by EDC executives with Energy Sec. Jericho Petilla and local government officials as special guests.

“The Nasulo geothermal plant will help address the tightening power supply-demand situation in the Visayas region. We are pleased that one of our greenfield projects is now ready to provide clean, reliable and competitively priced power to the province of Negros Oriental and to our valued customers in the Visayas grid,” EDC chairman and chief executive officer Federico R. Lopez said.

Based on forecasts of the Department of Energy (DOE), power demand in the Visayas will surpass the current capacity of 2,037MW by 2015. To address the deficit, the DOE has lined up energy projects including EDC’s Nasulo plant.

The Nasulo geothermal plant was constructed using equipment from EDC’s geothermal power plant in Negros Occidental. It will boost the portfolio of power assets of EDC and its subsidiaries in Southern Negros that includes the 112.5-MW Palinpinon I and 80-MW Palinpinon II geothermal plants of Green Core Geothermal Inc.

“The Nasulo geothermal power plant will help us fulfill the needs of our customers. They have asked EDC for competitively
priced power that minimizes foreign exchange fluctuations and volatile fuel price movements, so that is exactly the solution we provided,” EDC president and COO Richard Tantoco said.

EDC and its subsidiaries remain the leading producer of geothermal energy in the Philippines, accounting for more than 60% of the total geothermal capacity installed in the country. (Story by Toni Nieva)