Hon. Secretary Sharon Garin of the Department of Energy and the rest of your team; Our partner LGU officials who came all the way from our geothermal sites (led by Congw. Samantha Santos, District Representative Cotabato, 3rd District; Ormoc City Mayor Lucy Torres-Gomez; Sorsogon City Mayor Ester Hamor); Dear guests from our esteemed regulatory agencies; Pak Lokita Prasetya; Contractors and suppliers; Bank partners; Power customers; To our media guests; To our Lopez group Kapamilya; At syempre, sa mga Kapamilya natin…
- Sa BacMan – Marhay na banggi (Bicol)
- Sa Burgos – Naimbag a rabii * Sa Leyte, Negros at Mt. Apo – Maayong gabii
To our partners and teammates in Indonesia – Selamat malam – led by Pak Lokita Prasetya, President Director of our Indonesia joint venture partner PT DSSR Daya Mas Sakti; And to our Chairman, Mr. Piki Lopez, and the officers and employees of the First Gen group, Good evening!
It feels surreal to be standing here tonight knowing that our company, Energy Development Corporation, is now 50 years old. Para sa marami, pag sinabing 50 years, naku, ilang tulog na lang papuntang senior citizenship! But for a company that, as we say in our Lopez credo, is built to last, 50 years is such a young age. Even so, 50 years is 50 years and I hope you share with me this certain level of pride in the knowledge that we have been in the service of the Filipino people for half a century.
We all know that EDC is the largest 100 percent renewable energy producer in the country. While it is best to be forward-looking more than being nostalgic if we were to continue our progress as a company, puwede na sigurong excuse itong 50-year milestone celebration to journey back in time and reminisce as to how we got here.
EDC was borne out of necessity—in the midst of an oil crisis that had affected global economies, but had more severe consequences on smaller energy-import dependent countries like the Philippines. The Philippines was precariously dependent on foreign oil in 1973, importing 95% of its energy needs. Anticipating this vulnerability, the Marcos Senior administration already laid the groundwork for energy independence via the Oil Exploration and Development Act of 1972. When the OPEC oil embargo struck in October 1973, then President Marcos Sr.’s response was swift as he established the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) barely three weeks after the embargo to secure the nation’s energy future.
PNOC was tasked to explore oil fields in the country for commercial development to supply the Philippines’ domestic consumption requirements. While there had been promising results, they ultimately still fell short of the desired self-sufficiency. Clearly, we needed other energy sources. With the country sitting in the Pacific Ring of Fire, tapping energy from deep under the ground seemed a more exciting and promising idea.
In 1976, Energy Development Corporation was created under the umbrella of PNOC, tasked specifically with the exploration, development, production, generation, and supply of geothermal energy. While the oil crisis of the early 70s invigorated the development of geothermal, as early as in the 1960s, Dr. Arturo P. Alcaraz—or APA as he is fondly called by our geoscientists, otherwise known as the Father of Philippine geothermal energy—already made a breakthrough and lit up a bulb using electricity generated from steam in Tiwi, Albay.
And as we celebrate our 50-year anniversary, we would like to cite the pioneers and the three recognized geothermal pillars of EDC: Minister of Energy and PNOC chair Geronimo Z. Velasco, Senior Vice President Pabling Malixi, and President Nazi Vasquez, who took the mission given by government of developing reliable baseload energy as their own and with so much passion.
From 1976 to 1983, our geoscientists and engineers, with the help of consultants from KRTA (Kingston, Reynolds, Thom & Allardice) of New Zealand, developed the Leyte and Negros Oriental fields. The New Zealand government provided a grant that allowed EDC to buy its first ever drilling rig—ultimately resulting in the successful commissioning of the Tongonan 1 and Palinpinon 1 steamfields that EDC developed and the National Power Corporation’s power plants. It was EDC’s geoscientists who were able to locate the Tongonan reservoir after others failed to do so even after drilling a dozen exploratory wells.
With the commissioning of Tongonan 1 and Palinpinon 1 in 1983, the Philippines rose to be the second largest geothermal producer in the world. EDC took advantage of the momentum provided by these two successes and went full steam ahead to successively commission Bacman 1 and 2, Palinpinon 2, Mt. Apo 1 and 2 and, in Leyte, Upper Mahiao, Malitbog and Mahanagdong.
Between 1993 and 1999, as we have mostly experienced amidst the 11 to 12-hour blackouts in the country (pakitaas kamay ng mga nakakaalala nito), Unified Leyte was commissioned to help solve our then energy shortage. The year 1993 saw the entry of EDC into the power generation business through the Build, Operate, Transfer or BOT Law. From 1996-1999, EDC’s BOT contractors—California Energy in Mahanagdong and Malitbog, Ormat in Upper Mahiao, and Oxbow-Marubeni in Mt. Apo—commissioned an aggregate of 694 MW of geothermal power projects. At the end of the 10-year co-operation periods, EDC assumed ownership, operation and maintenance responsibility for these BOT plants.
By 2000, EDC’s projects totaled 1,149.4 MW, accounting for 60 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity. That is the story of our first 25 years. It looks like I only have 2 minutes left for the next 25 years!
In 2006, as part of government’s privatization thrust, EDC shares debuted in the Philippine Stock Exchange, and was later awarded “Biggest IPO of the Year.” A year later on November 29, 2007, First Gen acquired the remaining 40% of EDC’s common shares and an additional 20% of voting preferred shares for a massive 59 Billion pesos, signalling the full exit of government from EDC after 31 years and 9 months. Since then, First Gen has consistently looked at EDC as the anchor for the next chapter of our power group’s life as First Gen-EDC.
We grew. Our investments extended to hydro with the acquisition of 60% of First Gen Hydro. And also grew our core geothermal business with the acquisition of the remaining government-owned power plants: Palinpinon 1 and 2, Tongonan 1 in September 2009 and Bacman 1 and 2 in May 2010. These fully integrated our steamfield and power plant operations and gave birth to our power subsidiaries: Green Core Geothermal, Inc. (GCGI) and Bacman Geothermal, Inc. (BGI).
The year 2014 saw the Nasulo power plant come online and later that year, the Burgos Wind Farm was commissioned. In 2015 and 2016, we completed our solar plants also in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. In the past 4 years, we went online with the following projects: the Mindanao 3 Binary Geothermal Power Plant Project in 2022, the Palayan Binary in 2024, and last year, our Tanawon Geothermal Power Plant, the Mahanagdong Binary, and the three Battery Energy Storage Systems in Bacman, Tongonan and Southern Negros.
We are also venturing internationally. Last year, we finally signed a joint venture partnership with the Sinar Mas group and we are poised to jointly explore the development of geothermal resources with a combined potential of approximately 440MW across 6 projects in different regions in Indonesia.
And so, here we are.
Today, we mark First Gen-EDC’s 50 years of geothermal excellence. I hope we all share the view that our company has an indelible legacy and has proven that the Philippines is a powerhouse in geothermal energy. Do we all agree? If you did not raise your hand, please line up last at the buffet table. You may put your hands down now.
To our stakeholders, friends, and kapamilya here with us tonight, including those joining us via Zoom from our sites across the country, ang aking taos puso at walang hanggang pasasalamat for sharing this journey with us. Our hearts are full.
But as I said at the start of our message, we would do better to be more forward-looking as we continue our story and work collaboratively under First Gen’s guidance to lead the country into a decarbonized and regenerative future. We don’t stop at 50. We fervently look forward to another 50 years. We will continually strive to provide baseload Geo 24/7 power to the Filipino people, and in doing so, help realize the country’s energy security targets. I can’t believe that this expression is already dated, but paparating pa lang tayo sa exciting part for our next 50 years.
Pero bibitinin ko muna kayo. I still love my job so I will not steal the thunder from our Vice Chairman and CEO, Giles Puno, who would be outlining the group vision for First Gen and EDC and inspiring us in our worthwhile endeavors as a group.
I enjoin everyone to enjoy the rest of the evening’s festivities.
Muli, magandang gabi sa lahat at happy 50th anniversary, First Gen-EDC.