A PHILIPPINE representative of a geothermal technology company said that idle wells in Mount Apo can be used to produce electricity.
Alberto Dalusung III, Philippine representative of GreenFire Energy Inc. told the media during the "Powering Progress: The Path Toward the Philippines’ Clean Energy Transition" seminar, held at Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Iloilo City on July 9, 2024, that although there are not as many idle wells in Mt. Apo, they could be used for other technologies to generate power.
“All of those idle wells can be investigated for, you know, other technologies such as Greenfire. We are limited to any technology so I guess the good news is that all of our idle wells in the Philippines we can use, we just need to have a look and identify which ones we will do first,” he said.
He added that a typical idle well will produce about one to two megawatts (MW) of capacity once revived.
Dalusung described idle wells as underperforming and non-productive wells that are unable to produce energy as they did before becoming mature reservoirs. Under the GreenFire Green Loop, these idle wells will be used to maximize the economic production of underperforming geothermal resources.
This approach would produce energy while preserving the reservoir mass and pressure, enabling long-term sustainability of the resource.
In the Philippines, GreenFire Energy Inc. has been restoring idle wells at EDC’s Mahanagdong geothermal facility in Leyte.
GreenFire Energy Inc. provides geothermal solutions that ensure the long-term availability of resilient, sustainable, and scalable geothermal energy for a wide range of applications.
Dalusung, a former director for energy planning of the Department of Energy, assured that based on the operating graph of the Mt. Apo Geothermal Plant in 2023, there were no irregularities and it is "working fine."
The plant, located in Kidapawan, North Cotabato, generates about 100 MW of electricity and has been operating for approximately 30 years.
In the Philippines, the operating capacity factor of geothermal energy is 90 percent, making it one of the most reliable sources of electricity. Historically, geothermal energy has been the country’s most reliable power source. RGP