<\/p>\n
THE Department of Energy (DoE) said it is going to assess the potential impact of the proposed $5-billion (about P308 billion) acquisition of Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the country\u2019s largest geothermal power producer, if the transaction pushes through.<\/p>\n
The agency has yet to receive formal notice of the proposed deal, but Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin said it could evaluate any implications for the country\u2019s power supply.<\/p>\n
The comments got here after First Gen Corp. disclosed that it had received an unsolicited, non-binding $5-billion offer from Indonesia\u2019s PT Barito Renewables Energy (BREN) to accumulate its renewable energy subsidiary, EDC.<\/p>\n
EDC accounts for about one-fifth of the Philippines\u2019 installed renewable energy capability, with most of its capability coming from geothermal power plants within the Visayas and Mindanao.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when it does come to that, the DoE\u2019s role is to be certain that our supply shouldn’t be affected, and that the owner, if the deal pushes through, will follow the DoE\u2019s energy plan to advance more geothermal and renewable energy,\u201d Ms. Garin said in an interview last week.<\/span><\/p>\n While First Gen has yet to determine on the offer, Ms. Garin said BREN\u2019s acquisition of EDC could be \u201ca welcome change\u201d if it brings more investment into the geothermal sector.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo long as they comply with all of the legal requirements, since there may be questions on that,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I feel if this will encourage more investments, why not \u2014 especially in geothermal, which we really want to expand further.\u201d<\/p>\n BREN is the renewable energy arm of Indonesian conglomerate PT Barito Pacific Tbk. It holds a majority stake in Star Energy Geothermal, Indonesia\u2019s largest geothermal producer.<\/p>\n The Philippines has an installed geothermal capability of 1,952 megawatts (MW), making it the world\u2019s third-largest geothermal power producer after america and Indonesia.<\/p>\n The Economy and Development Council recently approved a P10-billion geothermal resource de-risking facility to scale back the risks related to geothermal project development.<\/p>\n Geothermal energy provides baseload power, although exploration requires significant upfront investment before a resource might be confirmed as commercially viable. \u2014 Sheldeen Joy Talavera<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO THE Department of Energy (DoE) said it is going to assess the potential impact of the proposed $5-billion (about P308 billion) acquisition of Energy Development Corp. (EDC), the country\u2019s largest geothermal power producer, if the transaction pushes through. The agency has yet to receive formal notice of the proposed deal, but Energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":369069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[4418,2443,17674,34899,3228,5503],"class_list":["post-369068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-affect","tag-bid","tag-doe","tag-edc","tag-power","tag-supply"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t