SOUTHERN LUZON STATE UNIVERSITY

Lucban, Quezon
Mechanical Engineering Department

Seminars/Plant Visits
(MCE21)

NARRATIVE REPORT

Submitted by:
LOPEZ, ANGELICA D.
BSME V-GM

Submitted to:
Engr. Jane Rose Caja

Submitted on:
October 26, 2016

Chevron Geothermal Philippines Holdings Inc. - Tiwi, Albay

Last October 19, 2016 the 5 th Year Mechanical Engineering students of Southern
Luzon State University Visited the Chevron Geothermal Philippines which is located in
Tiwi, Albay. Chevron Geothermal Philippines operates the steam fields of Tiwi in Albay
and Mak-Ban in Laguna/Batangas on behalf of the national government. Steam came
from the hot well below the ground near the magma, the water is boil because of the hot
surface called magma and it produce steam, it has a pipe to get the steam from the
underground. The steam from the hot well then passes through the pipes and goes to
Chevron Geothermal Philippines Holdings Inc. to separate the debris and steam before
sending it to facilities of Aboitiz Power Geothermal for generating the electricity. The
steam sent to the Aboitiz Power Geothermal goes to the turbine which is connected to a
motor then converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy.
The birth of the Philippines geothermal industry is often always attributed to the
1970s oil crisis but in fact, investigation of the countrys potential for utilizing geothermal
energy for electric power generation began in the early 1960s. The defunct Commission
on Volcanology or ComVol, (the precursor of the current Philippine Institute of
Volcanology and Seismology or PHIVOLCS) began investigating the Tiwi hot springs
and boiling pools in Albay in 1964. It was headed by the late Dr. Arturo P. Alcaraz, the
acknowledged father of Philippine geothermal development. In 1967, a pilot plant with a
capacity of 2.5 kWe in Barangay Cale, Tiwi, Albay was turned on to power the first light
bulbs utilizing electricity from geothermal.

Aboitiz Power Renewable Inc. Geothermal Tiwi, Albay

On the same day, October 19, 2016 the SLSU Mechanical Engineering Students
visited the Aboitiz Power Geothermal located also in Tiwi, Albay. This plant is designed
to generate electricity. From the previous company we visited which is the Chevron
Geothermal Philippines Holdings Inc., they extract steam from below the ground by
means of hot wells. The steam extracted by the Chevron Geothermal Philippines
Holdings Inc. will be delivered and supplied to Aboitiz Power Geothermal and pass
through the turbine that will rotate when the steam got contact with the turbine blades
due to the steam pressure and velocity, it is coupled to the generator that creates
electromagnetic flux that called electricity. The electricity goes to transformer and
collects it before it goes to the transmission line. The electricity produced by the Aboitiz
Power Renewable Inc. Geothermal is then distributed to the NAPOCOR or NGCP
before it passes to the MERALCO or another electric cooperative.
The steam rotates the turbine and thus creates a rotary motion, the steam
passes through this turbine and goes through the pumps and passes to the separator to
separate the condensable gases and non-condensable gases. The condensable gases
go to condenser to remove the heat and condensed the gases, after that it passes
through the cooling tower that evaporate the saturated gas to saturated liquid. In this
section the liquid blow down to the hot well to regenerated the steam and create it
again. On the other hand, the non-condensable gases throw it to the atmosphere.