The Philippines is one of the world's top producers of geothermal power, owing to its location along the

Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring ...

zone of Pacific volcanoes. The country commissioned the 12-megawatt Maibarara Geothermal Power Plant-2 on March 9, 2018, in Santo Tomas, Batangas. The Geothermal Education Office and a 1980 article titled "The Philippines geothermal success story" by Rudolph J. Birsic published in the journal Geothermal Energy note the remarkable geothermal resources of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

.Birsic, R.J
The Philippines geothermal success story
''Geothermal Energy'' (vol. 8, Aug.-Sept. 1980, p. 35-44) During the World Geothermal Congress 2000 held in

Beppu, Ōita is a city in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city had a population of 122,643

Prefecture of Japan held from May to June 2000, it was reported that the Philippines is the largest consumer of electricity from geothermal sources and highlighted the potential role of geothermal energy in providing energy needs for developing countries. According to the International Geothermal Association (IGA), worldwide, the Philippines ranks second to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in producing geothermal energy. As of 2010, the US had a capacity of 3093 megawatts of geothermal power, while that of the Philippines was 1904 megawatts. The Philippines was followed by Mexico with 958 MW. Early statistics from the Institute for Green Resources and Environment stated that Philippine geothermal energy provides 16% of the country's electricity. By 2005, geothermal energy accounted for 17.5% of the country's electricity production. More recent statistics from the IGA show that combined energy from the nation's six geothermal fields, located in the islands of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

and

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

, still accounts for approximately 17% of the country's electricity generation. Leyte island is where the first geothermal power plant, a 3 megawatt wellhead unit, started operations in July 1977. Larger-scale commercial production of geothermal power began in 1979 with the commissioning of a 110-megawatt plant at Tiwi field in Albay province. IGA figures as of December 2009 show the nation's installed geothermal capacity stands at 1904 megawatts, with gross generation of 10,311 gigawatt-hrs for all of 2009, representing 17% of the nation's total power generation mix. As of 2017, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimates the Philippines' net installed geothermal energy capacity to at 1.9 gigawatts (GW)—out of the global geothermal installed capacity of 12.7 GW ranking behind the United States (2.5 GW) and ahead of Indonesia (1.5 GW). It also estimates that the country can potentially generate 2.1 GW from geothermal sources by 2025.

References

{{Asia topic , Geothermal energy in

See also

References