THE GENERATION capacity output for Mt. Apo Geothermal Plant in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato, will soon expand, as First Gen Renewables is drilling additional wells for that purpose.
“We are adding wells para Mt. Apo can produce at its maximum capacity. It’s been producing 80 MW. Now we are going to push it to 104 MW maximum capacity,” First Gen Renewables’ president Jerome Cainglet said at the sidelines of the Philippine Net Zero Conference 2026 at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
He announced the latest expansion is on track to be completed by the end of the year or through the first quarter of 2027.
Cainglet added that the energy produced by Mt. Apo remains sufficient and fully integrated into the transmission system, benefiting from recent grid infrastructure developments.
Following the energization of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in Mindanao and the completion of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), power generated in the region can now be utilized locally or exported to the Visayas grid.
The MVIP was fully operational and achieved full commercial operations following a simultaneous ceremonial switch-on led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in January 2024.
Featuring an initial transfer capacity of 450 megawatts (MW), which is expandable to 900 MW, it physically connects the three major power grids of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao for the first time in Philippine history.
Cainglet confirmed that while transmission connections between Mindanao and Visayas are already established, additional capacity remains available to optimize power flow across the islands.
“Now that we have a connection to Visayas, and we have a WESM market in Mindanao, now we can maximize the production; that’s what we are doing,” he said.
Francis Giles Puno, First Philippine Holdings and First Gen Corp President said the issue in Mindanao is less about the power plant capacity but more about the ability to get the steam.
“Our focus in Mindanao is drilling more wells so we can extract more steam that will deliver the fuel so the power plants can run full load. That is immediate capacity that can be delivered to the Mindanao demand,” Puno said.
New wells are intended to bolster overall generation capacity, providing electric cooperatives and distribution utilities with expanded options during Competitive Selection Process (CSP) bidding for long-term power supply contracts, which could mean more supply for Mindanao consumers.
First Gen contributes 56% of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity, and accounts for 17% of the country’s total RE generation.
Hydroelectric, on the other hand, accounts for 299.4 MW generated across 4 hydro plants. Meanwhile, wind delivers 150.0 MW from its one wind installation, while solar contributes 12.0 MW across 10 installations.
In Mindanao, the company’s Mt. Apo Geothermal Plant in Kidapawan City serves as a vital component of the regional grid, with continuous power for over three decades.
Puno said the company is banking on geothermal energy to meet Mindanao’s electricity demand, considering its reliability of 24/7 operation.
In September 2025, the company announced exploratory drilling at the Amacan, Davao de Oro, to determine the field’s capacity.
First Gen reported a total installed renewable capacity of 1,764.2 megawatts (MW) across 31 power facilities nationwide as of 2025, delivering over 8,319.9 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of generation representing roughly 30% of the Philippines’ total renewable energy generation mix.
The firm’s renewable platform is driven by four core energy sources: geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, and solar, where geothermal represents the core of the portfolio with 1,302.8 MW across 16 projects, maintaining EDC’s status as the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal producer.
