First Gen to upgrade aging geothermal plants in Visayas

First Gen Corporation is set to invest heavily in upgrading its legacy geothermal power plants in Leyte and Negros, while expanding exploration efforts in Mindanao as part of its long-term renewable energy push.

“In geothermal, our plants have been in operation for the last 40 years,” said Francis Giles B. Puno, president and chief operating officer of First Gen Corporation, during the recent turnover of the First Philippine Industrial Park’s RAP to First Gen.

“We’re in the process of upgrading some of the other facilities, and also putting in newer facilities, so that the whole concept of renewable energy is—we can prove that geothermal is an important renewable resource,” he added.

First Gen is conducting a comprehensive reassessment of its over 700-megawatt geothermal complex in Leyte, one of the largest in Southeast Asia.

“If we came in there for the very first time, would I be building the same plants and the same locations with the same technology? And we came up with a different decision 40 years later,” Puno said, referring to the evolution of the site’s steam characteristics.

In Negros, the company is modernizing its Dumaguete plant with updated technology, bolstered by consistent geothermal output.

“Forty years later, the steam resources still produce the same quality and pressure of the steam rose as if we were first extracting it 40 years ago. So that’s the nice thing about it,” Puno said.

In Mindanao, drilling is underway in Amacan, part of First Gen’s effort to evaluate the viability and sustainability of new geothermal prospects.

“We’re also drilling in Mindanao, in Amacan. So that’s—we need to prove the sustainability of that resource,” he added.

To enhance system efficiency and reliability, First Gen is combining geothermal with battery energy storage systems (BESS).

“In Bac-Man, we have a 20MWh facility. In Negros, we have a 10MWh facility. And then in some other sites, we also have another 10MWh facility,” Puno said.

The company is leveraging artificial intelligence to optimize decades of geothermal operational data for smarter resource management.

“What we’re trying to do is figure out how to capture all of the data that we’ve accumulated over the last 50 years, put that into some AI system to be able to improve and improve the ability for us to extract all of this data to produce more 24/7,” Puno said.

First Gen confirmed that proceeds from its planned sale of a minority stake in its natural gas business to Prime Infra will be redirected toward renewable energy projects, including geothermal.

“What we’re doing is sort of re-channeling some of the proceeds from the gas into the RE space,” he added.

Puno stressed the need for regulatory support to sustain geothermal expansion, particularly during the risky and capital-intensive exploration stage.

“We need to work with the government, both the ERC and the DOE to find a way to support more geothermal to come in. Because as you know, the challenge of geothermal is the exploration side of that,” he said.

“We focus on the more challenging renewable energy, but the more reliable renewable energy,” Puno added. “So our program, our recommendation to the government is to be able to find a way to support these technologies. Principally, geothermal and also hydro.”