As climate change begins to manifest, the world feels the impact of extreme weather disturbances such as typhoon Yolanda that claimed thousands of lives in the Visayas in 2013.
ABS-CBN LingkodKapamilya Foundation Inc. chairman Gina Lopez shake
hands after signing an agreement to formalize First Gen’s P5-million donation
to fund the development of eight ecotourism sites.
First Gen Corp. subsidiary Energy Development Corp. recognizes that extreme weather is the “new normal” and that there is a need to prepare for the worst.
“At our geothermal subsidiary, EDC, we recognize that the most vulnerable of our structures are our cooling towers and control rooms. We have since begun exploring innovative and resourceful designs for these – as well as other plant facilities – uprating them to withstand intense rainfall and higher wind speeds of up to 300 kph,” First Gen and EDC chairman Federico Lopez says.
The Philippines is the world’s second largest geothermal producer next to the United States, mainly because of EDC. The company has a total installed generating capacity of 1,441 megawatts, which includes not only geothermal but also hydro, wind and solar power projects.
“If there’s a single point that’s been driven home to us as a company these last few years, it’s this: climate change is real, and it’s here to stay,” Lopez says.
Lopez recalls that a number of intense weather events had affected EDC operations.
“In the short period between November 2013 and December 2014, three intense weather events”•typhoons Yolanda, Ruby, and Seniang”•disrupted our plant operations in Leyte. Yet another one, typhoon Glenda, affected plant operations materially in Bacman during the same period in July 2014,” he says.
“It’s clear that, given our energy production infrastructure is built amongst the most rugged and the most challenging natural landscapes, it is imperative that our company is prepared to adapt as rapidly as possible to this new normal,” Lopez says.
Lopez says to respond to the challenge, EDC is redesigning and uprating the most vulnerable segments of its energy facilities to withstand higher wind speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour and the intense rainfall that come along with intense typhoons.
“In most cases, the most vulnerable of our structures have always been our cooling towers and control rooms. Innovative and resourceful redesigns are already underway for these facilities, making them more robust and more resilient in the years to come,” he says.
EDC president Richard Tantoco esimates that the company lost about P1 billion in cash revenues due to impact of the typhoons on the company’s Bacman and Leyte business units.
“In response to this clear and present threat that is clearly worsening, we commissioned SPX Marley, maker of 68 percent of our cooling towers, our most vulnerable equipment, to custom design solutions so that our cooling towers can withstand typhoon winds up to 300 kph. SPX Marley completed their designs in 2014 and these will be installed starting July 2015,” says Tantoco.
Tantoco says EDC has gone ahead and spent on “bunker type” control rooms which are solid waterproof concrete structures to protect critical electronic instrumentation and control systems.
“We also improved the building housings by adding 100 percent reinforcements to the structural supports for metal cladding,” Tantoco says.
Since 2006, EDC has identified close to 150 critical geohazard-prone areas that needed reinforcement in order to mitigate threats to the safety of people and to infrastructure within its concession areas.
“By end 2014, we completed all the necessary geohazard mitigating measures in these areas. However, we continue to be vigilant in identifying any new areas that may become prone to natural disasters,” Lopez says.
Lopez says the company is also building stronger emergency preparedness and response capabilities within the company, by hiring some of the best full-time dedicated emergency teams in the country.
“They are intentionally being deployed full-time throughout our various sites across the country for rapid response in emergencies and will also be responsible for training our partner communities and local governments in disaster preparedness,” says Lopez.