RESTORED BINARY PLANT 1 ADDS 6MW
Aboitiz Power Renewables Inc. acquired geothermal power plants from the National Power Corp. The company operates geothermal power plants in Tiwi in Albay, borders of Calauan in Laguna and Sto. Tomas in Batangas.
To make good its commitment to renewable energy, AboitizPower recently presented its 6-megawatt binary plant at the Makiling-Banahaw (Makban) Geothermal Plant in Sto. Tomas, Batangas.
The Binary Plant 1, which operated after it was successfully restored in the second half of 2016, uses excess heat from spent brine to generate clean and renewable energy for the Luzon Grid.
Mario Marasigan, director of the Renewable Energy Management Bureau of the Department of Energy, congratulated AboitizPower “for always bringing the good news to DOE (Department of Energy) for additional kilowatt-hour capacity for the consuming public.”
“The restoration could not have been done without the efforts of everyone. The resto- ration would make everyone’s lives easier to make sure that renewable (energy) will get percentages. You have actually initiated a new dimension, which can be replicated in all operating geothermal plants in the Philippines. I know that it would be less difficult for you to do a new one rather than restore an old one. Mas madali ang bago, but with the old one, you inherit all the risk, all the challenges and all the difficulties,” Marasigan said in his speech last April 27 during the presentation of the binary plant.
Geothermal energy comes from the heat of the earth. It is produced by drilling holes into the earth to tap the steam—or the hot water rising to the surface— from the geothermal reservoirs.
“It took us more than a year to complete the restoration, but we were able to add 6 megawatts (mw) installed capacity of renewable energy to our facility, utilizing heat from geothermal byproducts and idle equipment,” Aboitiz Power Renewables Inc. president and COO Felino Bernardo said.
The Binary Plant 1 is one of three binary cycle power plants in the MakBan Geothermal Project Complex. The binary cycle plants were decommissioned in 2008. Of the three, only Binary 1 was found viable for rehabilitation.
“This plant shows our commitment to renewable energy, through our Cleanergy brand,” AP president and COO Antonio Moraza said during the presentation ceremony. “We have always emphasized that AboitizPower will continue to pursue renewable energy projects for as long as these are sensible and cost-effective for our customers and for us. As we grow our portfolio of power plants, we will strive to achieve a balance between renewable and conventional energy sources.”