The Department of Energy (DOE) is on the hunt for partners to help it manage risks associated with geothermal power development.
De-risking, the DOE acknowledged, is the most expensive part in drilling explorations.
“We’re looking for a partner financing or agency that will co-manage the fund or the facility. We are in discussion with various financial risk management companies,” Mylene Capongcol, DOE assistant secretary, told reporters.
Capongcol said a de-risking mechanism will help guarantee continued geothermal exploration activities.
The DOE said that in 2022 it worked with the Asian Development Bank in crafting a geothermal de-risking roadmap for the Philippines.
The program sought to identify, evaluate and recommend geothermal pre-development de-risking strategies to help in assessing and prioritizing policies and regulations to increase power resource development in the country.
The DOE said that in geothermal power projects de-risking is crucial as exploration projects are expensive and have a long gestation period of four to six years.
The DOE said only 59 percent of drilled geothermal wells turn out to have sufficient resources for subsequent power generation.
DOE data show the installed on-grid geothermal capacity of 1,952 MW as at end-2023 or 6.9 percent of total installed capacity of the entire grid.
The Philippines is also the third largest producer of geothermal power in the world after the United States and Indonesia.
