Geothermal

Tiwi Geothermal operations unhindered by Mayon Volcano eruption

June 22, 2023

The operations of Aboitiz Power Corporation’s (AboitizPower) Tiwi Geothermal Power Plant in Tiwi, Albay remain under normal conditions and continues to supply the Luzon grid despite increased activity from the Mayon Volcano that started last week.

President and chief operating officer of AP Renewables Inc. (APRI) Jeffrey R. Estrella said that the facility observed no significant temperature and fluid flow effects on its geothermal electricity production or other issues.

“The complex gross generation for the past week has been around 120 megawatts (MW) with no incident relating to Mayon's unrest,” he reported. “Nonetheless, despite Tiwi Geothermal’s distance to Mayon’s crater of about 24 kilometers, we remain on safety alert for any possible eventualities.”

He added that the construction of a binary geothermal plant in the Tiwi Facility continues to progress en route to providing an additional 17-MW of clean electricity — sourced from residual heat from the hot brine side of the geothermal production process — by the end of the year.

The province of Albay was placed under a state of calamity due to the threat of eruption by the Mayon Volcano, which is currently under Alert Level 3 due to its “intensified unrest” or magmatic unrest. As a result, people living within the "permanent danger zone" or the six-kilometer radius have been evacuated.

Recent data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council indicated that there are close to 5,800 affected families, composed of over 20,000 individuals, from six municipalities and two component cities in the province.

​​The affected families are now staying in evacuation centers that include local government-owned evacuation centers, public schools and other buildings converted into temporary shelters in the cities of Ligao and Tabaco, and the towns of Sto. Domingo, Malilipot, Guinobatan, Camalig and Daraga.

In support of the evacuation efforts of the provincial government of Albay, Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Aboitiz Foundation) donated 10,000 sacks of 5 kilograms of rice to the evacuees of Camalig and Daraga.

The office of Albay 2nd District Representative Joey Sarte Salceda received the donation on behalf of Albay. The Ago Medical and Educational Center (AMEC) also provided their gym as a temporary storage house for the rice.

Aboitiz Foundation is the social development arm of the Aboitiz Group. Meanwhile, AboitizPower subsidiary APRI is one of the Philippines’ leading geothermal energy producers, serving as the operator of the Tiwi Facility and the MakBan Geothermal Power Plant with a current actual capacity of 118 MW and 231 MW, respectively.