Lopez-led First Gen Corp. plans to increase its geothermal investments following the sale of a 60 percent stake in its gas assets to Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc.
First Gen President Francis Giles Puno said subsidiary Energy Development Corp. (EDC) has made significant drilling investments over the past two years, highlighting geothermal as the company’s most important renewable energy platform.
“But next year, there’ll be more investment because when you think about it, the assets themselves are over 40 years old. And it’s a renewable energy resource,” Puno said.
EDC undertook its most aggressive drilling campaign in its history, drilling 24 new wells in 2024 and increasing its rig count to seven from just one operational rig at the start of the year.
Puno called this an “unprecedented undertaking,” noting that another 19 wells are planned for 2025, including the first exploration drilling for the Amacan growth project in Mindanao.
“We expect to add more than 140 megawatts of baseload steam capacity this year alone,” Puno said during the company’s annual stockholders meeting in May. “Numerous other plant improvements will deliver more GWh generation for a prolonged period. EDC is also commissioning 83 MW of new geothermal capacity and 40 MWh of battery storage, delivering round.”
He explained that compared to solar and wind, which only require equipment replacement, the process for geothermal is more complex.
“In geothermal, our plants have been in operation for the last 40 years. So we’re in the process of upgrading some of the other facilities and also putting in newer facilities…We can prove that geothermal is an important renewable resource,” he said.
“Our focus right now actually is more on the next phase of geothermal development, and that includes concessions we have here. We’re also drilling in Mindanao, in Amacan. So that’s, we need to prove the sustainability of that resource and hopefully also we can take advantage of our concessions in Indonesia.”
Puno emphasized that geothermal is a crucial energy supply because it runs 24 hours a day, unlike intermittent solar and wind.
“That’s why we reported earlier we’re the biggest producer of renewable energy because to replace the 24-7 baseload renewable energy with solar, you need to build so much more solar and battery storage combinations,” Puno said.
