Philippine EDC reports flashover at 650-MW geothermal complex

Philippine company Energy Development Corp (PSE:EDC) said Monday the 75-MW Unit 2 of its Malitbog geothermal plant, part of the 650-MW Leyte complex, had tripped on August 17 during a 30-day scheduled maintenance outage.

The company explained that the facility had experienced a flashover inside the high-voltage terminal box, which led to the incident. At that time, Malitbog Unit 2 was undergoing testing and commissioning of its Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) under the supervision of its manufacturer -- Swiss group ABB (VTX:ABBN).

As the unit was offline, the incident did not have any impact on the grid and no injuries were sustained by any of the personnel involved, according to the statement. Together with ABB and other consultants and contractors, EDC is currently assessing the extent of the repairs needed and is conducting a full review of all contributing factors that led to the flashover.

EDC pointed out that it has a machinery breakdown and business interruption insurance in place and that the insurers and their advisers have been notified about the incident. Earlier this month, the Philippine firm announced that it reached a PHP-1.53-billion (USD 32m/EUR 29m) settlement with the insurers of its 140-MW Bacon-Manito (Bacman) geothermal plant in respect of an incident in February 2013.

(PHP 10 = USD 0.212/EUR 0.193)

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