By: Rodrigo S. Victoria
Naval, Biliran (9 June) – Brownouts and fluctuations in the power supply would now be a thing of the past as Envent Holding Philippines, Incorporated (EHPI) signed an agreement for the supply of power to Biliran Electric Cooperative, Incorporated (BILECO).
EHPI is a renewable energy business dedicated to the exploration of geothermal resources in the Philippines as well as to the development of geothermal power plants in the region.
Envent is currently working on several geothermal projects and is committed to contributing to the Philippine government’s target of adding 1,200 MW of renewable power capacity by 2013. Envent’s key shareholders are Reykjavik Energy Invest and Geysir Green Energy based in Iceland, both global leaders in the development of the renewable energy sector.
Other conduit of the geothermal development is the Biliran Geothermal Incorporated, a company specifically established to undertake upstream development activities on the island of Biliran in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. Upstream geothermal activities include the exploration of geothermal areas, well field construction and the extraction of steam from the area. The company is owned by Filtech Energy Drilling Corporation (Fedco) and Envent Holding Philippines.
The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) dated May 22, 2009 was officially signed by Engr. Leonardo V. Madeja, Jr., President, BILECO Board of Directors and witnessed by Marlon B. Roa, BILECO General Manager and Domingo T. Ligot, Members of the Board of Directors of EHPI on June 3, 2009 at the BILECO Conference Hall. The agreement has already the signature Gudmundur F. Sigurjonsson, President of EHPI before the formal signing of the MOA.
Section 3 of the MOA states that BILECO agrees and commits to purchase and EHPI agrees and commits to sell to it electric energy produced from the Biliran Geothermal Power Plant (BGPP) equivalent to at least five (5) megawatts within the contract period of ten years.
BGPP is the power plant to be developed by EHPI in Biliran province and will have a net capacity of 50 megawatts. It is estimated that the Commercial Operation Date of BGPP shall be five years from the date of the agreement, provided no unexpected aspects negatively affect this estimate.
The Base Electricity Price per kilowatthour is at Five Pesos (P5.00) as the mutually agreed energy charges to be paid by BILECO under such terms and conditions to be specified in the Terms of Payments of the Electricity Sales Agreement as provided in Section 4 of the MOA.
Meanwhile, GM Roa of BILECO looks forward to a steady supply of electric power to its power consumers ending the current state of constant brownouts and fluctuation in the power supply in the island from this transaction.
He said that this development will also attract investors to locate in Biliran and added that the host community will greatly benefit out of the royalty tax derived from the geothermal power.
GM Roa assured that this development will greatly contribute to the economic upliftment in the province of Biliran as a whole.(PIA-Biliran)
