INTRODUCTION
Hon. DOE Secretary Sharon Garin, Security and Exchange Commission Chairman Francis Lim, the Energy Development Corporation Board of Directors, First Gen colleagues, and friends – good evening. To the President Director of PT Daya Mas Bumi Sentosa, our JV partner in Indonesia, Pak Lokita Prasetya, a very special welcome.
Tonight, we celebrate a milestone – fifty years of geothermal energy in the Philippines. Fifty years of harnessing the uniqueness of 24/7 baseload renewable energy with discipline, persistence, and a belief that our own country could tap power from within itself, from the God-given resources that have been made available to us.
What began in 1976 as a small group of pioneers within the Department of Energy evolved as PNOC, then as PNOC–Energy Development Corporation, later EDC, and in 2007 entered a new chapter as part of First Gen.
Today, that journey continues. The years taught us much about geothermal and its complexities – about exploration and development in difficult to reach places, about capital risk and long-term investment, about technology and engineering, about stakeholder management and partnerships. But tonight, I will leave you with the three lessons that matter most. From each emerges a ‘boldness principle’, a principle required to build something meant to endure.
First boldness principle: Geothermal is invaluable once built, but its risks, complexity and cost to build are not for the faint of heart. This is boldness in patience, determination, and long-term commitment.
Geothermal is not an easy energy source to harness. It begins with uncertainty. Exploration requires billions of pesos just to explore a single site
– all this before you know whether viable steam lies deep beneath the ground. You drill 2-3 kilometers deep into the unknown. You test temperature for heat. You test for the availability of water through deep aquifers to create steam. You test rock permeability. You analyze reservoir pressure, chemistry, and long-term sustainability. There are no guarantees. Capital is committed many years before returns are visible. Success is earned not only through diligence and continuous learning, but through expensive trials, setbacks, and mistakes.
Unlike energy projects that can be scaled quickly or relocated when markets shift, geothermal development anchors capital permanently in place. Once you begin, you are committed – to the geology, to the community, and to the long horizon of stewardship that follows.
To date, First Gen has invested over P200 billion in exploration, drilling, plant development, operations and maintenance, and rehabilitation across our geothermal portfolio. This means that more investment dollars have been spent in our country. That is the nature of this work – patient capital that confronts uncertainty at the beginning in order to secure certainty in the long-term. And when the resource is proven, what emerges is not merely a power plant. It is infrastructure designed to operate for fifty years or more, forming the backbone of regional economic development.
Geothermal is therefore more than an energy source. It is strategic infrastructure built through persistence and discipline. It demands conviction at the outset. It rewards stewardship over decades. This requires the boldness to invest before certainty exists, and to sustain what has been built.
Second boldness principle: Geothermal is essential to our country’s long term energy security, stabilizing the grid, and powering economic development. This is boldness in choosing indigenous strength over import dependent pricing volatility.
Today, First Gen operates about 1,400 megawatts of geothermal capacity across the country. But capacity alone does not tell the full story. What matters is the role geothermal plays within the broader energy system.
In an archipelagic country like ours, reliability is not optional. Power must not only be generated – it must be sustained, balanced, and delivered consistently across regions. As energy demand increases, the need for firm and predictable generation becomes even more critical. Geothermal provides that stability. It runs twenty-four hours a day. It operates independent of weather, season, or sun in the daylight. And it reduces exposure to imported fuel and global volatility.
In a renewable portfolio increasingly shaped by variability, geothermal does not compete with solar and wind – it strengthens them. It allows intermittent sources to expand safely because there is firm capacity beneath them. That is what energy security looks like in practice.
Through the One Leyte Redevelopment program, we are repowering and future-proofing one of the world’s most critical geothermal complexes. Beyond our shores, through our partnership with SinarMas Group, a leading conglomerate in Indonesia, we are jointly developing up to 440 megawatts of new geothermal capacity in that country – bringing Philippine expertise to one of the world’s most resource-rich geothermal markets through collaboration and partnership built on capability and trust.
These are not incremental decisions. They are deliberate choices rooted in conviction about geothermal’s future role. Energy security of this kind does not happen by accident. And geothermal is the backbone that makes that possible. That requires the boldness to choose indigenous strength over import-reliant volatility, and to reinforce the backbone of the system for decades ahead.
Third boldness principle: Communities that host geothermal development grow and thrive with it and become not only net-zero, but net-positive communities. This is the boldness in scaling a net-zero blueprint across the country.
Geothermal does not only power the grid. It shapes the trajectory and prosperity of communities. Energy infrastructure is never neutral. It influences where industries cluster, where skills develop, and where families choose to live. Across Leyte, Negros, Albay, Sorsogon, Cotabato and Davo del Sur, geothermal became that anchor.
Over the last five years, close to 40% of our workforce in host areas have come from local communities. These are skilled careers – engineers, geologists, drilling specialists, technicians – that did not exist locally fifty years ago. Beyond direct employment – through taxes, royalties, and CSR initiatives – geothermal has strengthened local communities and funded long-term development programs.
In many cases, our host communities generate more clean power than they consume. They are not only net-zero, but net-positive. These regions are not aspirational models, but are operating realities already in the midst of the energy transition. They are already living it today. These are communities powered by good.
We believe that this is a viable blueprint for regional development across the Philippines. But scaling that blueprint will not happen automatically. That requires the boldness to ensure that growth and decarbonization advance together, and that the communities who host energy infrastructure rise with it.
Taking Boldness Principles Forward – Together: The Future of Geothermal
Taken together, these three boldness principles define more than an energy source. They define how we operate: a willingness to invest before outcomes are assured, to prioritize indigenous strength over short-term convenience, and to ensure that growth and decarbonization advance together. Today, as we accelerate this all-important, essential clean energy transition, we are once again called to practice that same collective boldness.
And it is precisely for this reason that we are formally positioning EDC geothermal operations as a solid foundation brand under First Gen Renewables. This is not a cosmetic change, but a declaration of clarity in
direction. Today, we state that identity plainly and confidently: Renewable energy is at the center of First Gen’s future. And geothermal remains its solid foundation. At the end of my message, we will be sharing a short video that will show you how this new identity comes to life.
The future of geothermal globally suggests we are only at the beginning. The Paris-based intergovernmental organization, the International Energy Agency, issued a special report entitled The Future of Geothermal Energy. In this report, the IEA estimates that geothermal supplies less than one percent of global energy today. Yet by 2050, by incorporating innovation technology used in oil and gas exploration by the major players, by drilling deeper and utilizing advanced geothermal systems – vastly more geothermal energy can be potentially harnessed. Geothermal could deploy up to 800 gigawatts of capacity – producing nearly 6,000 terawatt-hours of electricity each year. That is equivalent to the combined power demand of the United States and India today.
This scale by itself is staggering – but beyond that lies something even more extraordinary: geothermal’s full technical potential is estimated to be more than one hundred times current global electricity demand. With this trajectory, the IEA study estimates that geothermal can provide as much as 15% of global demand in the future.
And this is why this is so exciting – the Philippines is not a peripheral player in this story. Our country is the third-largest geothermal power producer in the world, after the United States and Indonesia. And within the Philippines, First Gen stands as the largest geothermal power producer – stewarding one of the most significant geothermal platforms globally.
Our Thanks
None of this – what we have done, and the very exciting times we are at the cusp of – would be possible without the pioneers who began this journey in 1976. To the early engineers, geologists, and field teams who proved that geothermal in the Philippines was viable – we honor you. To all the men and women of the Department of Energy, PNOC, PNOC-EDC, EDC, and First Gen –
who continue to deliver power reliably, often in demanding environments – we thank you. You are custodians of an invaluable energy resource that this country depends on.
And to our partners in government, regulators, LGUs, investors, and host communities – thank you for the trust and collaboration that make long term infrastructure possible. Thank you for standing with us across cycles and decades.
This next chapter will require us to be bolder still – in how we invest, how we collaborate, and how we move forward together. As we move forward with collective boldness, I am confident that together, we will build an energy future that is Powered by Good – more secure, more sustainable, and more resilient for generations to come.
Thank you, everyone.