Renewable energy producer Energy Development Corp., a subsidiary of First Gen Corp., asked the government to provide a feed-in-tariff for geothermal power projects.
EDC president and chief operating officer Richard Tantoco said future geothermal projects would require a modest feed-in tariff, “nowhere near where wind and solar are today but in reality is significantly cheaper when the costs of intermittency are factored in.”
“The whole Epira [Electric Power Industry Reform Act] is geared toward competition to reduce cost. But we have to get people to accept and acknowledge that fact that there are other costs not factored there, intermittency, carbon costs,” Tantoco said.
EDC is the country’s biggest geothermal power producer with a total capacity 1,169 megawatts.
The company expects net income to be flat this year at P8.8 billion because of the maintenance shutdowns of some geothermal plants. Alena Mae S. Flores