EDC buying stake in 220-MW power plant in Indonesia

MANILA, Philippines – Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the country’s largest geothermal company, is buying an initial 25% stake in a joint venture that will build a 220-megawatt (MW) power plant complex in Indonesia.

On the sidelines of First Philippine Holdings Corporation’s (FPH) annual stockholders’ meeting Monday, May 26, chief finance officer Francis Giles Puno said the company would put up a joint venture with the entity that holds the concession for a 4×55-MW geothermal power plant in Indonesia. The plant is estimated to cost over $1 billion.

Puno said they would finalize their investment by the second half of the year.

“We will initially have minority interest in the joint venture but we will have management control,” he said.

“We hope to make some announcements on the joint venture by the second half of the year,” he added.

FPH chairman Federico Lopez, for his part, said it was a good time to expand in Indonesia because the country was opening up its power sector.

Lopez-owned EDC is the second-largest geothermal power producer in the world. It operates 11 geothermal power plants and two hydro facilities with a total capacity of 1,262 MW. Some of its plants are in Peru and Chile.

In Peru, the company recently formed a joint venture with renewable energy developer Alterra Power Corporation for the development of the latter’s remaining geothermal projects there. Under the agreement, EDC will get a 70% interest in Alterra’s asset portfolio and will be funding 100% of the next $6 million development costs. – Rappler.com