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THE Philippine government will approve contracts for 19 geothermal energy projects in the coming five months, which could attract billions of dollars of private investment.

Alejandro Oanes, division chief for the geothermal energy at the Philippine energy department told Reuters that the government is issuing tenders for the development of ten geothermal sites and negotiating nine more directly with various domestic and foreign energy companies. He added that altogether the 19 projects could attract as much as $2.5b  in private investment and provide an extra 620 MW of clean energy.

In 2008, The Philippines produced 17% of its energy from its 2 GW of installed geothermal capacity, making it the second largest developer after the US. Oanes says Philippine company Energy Development and Envent, a unit of Iceland’s Geysir Green Energy are two of the companies competing for contracts at sites that include two volcanoes. The first, Mount Isarog in the Camarines Sur province, has the potential for 70 MW of power, and the second, Mount Labo in Camarines Norte, could produce as much as 65 MW of power.

The government has plans to increase geothermal capacity to 4.5 GW by 2020. Further provinces with hot rock resources include Benguet, Cagayan, Palawan, Oriental Mindoro, Surigao del Norte and Laguna. The Philippines’ large geothermal capacity is a result of its location in the Ring of Fire – a highly active belt of tectonic activity that snakes along the rim of the Pacific basin.