The increasing demand for electricity due to the rapid
economic growth and rising population has been the main
focus of energy policy in many Southeast Asian countries.
With a projected power growth rate of 5-15 percent per
annum, their target to attain energy security and to sustain
their economic growth compelled these countries to develop
their renewable and indigenous sources of energy as
alternate to their fossil-based fuel requirements. Two of
these countries, the Philippines and Indonesia, are both
ideally situated along the stretch of the Pacific Ring of
Fire, and as such are largely endowed with geothermal
resources. Geothermal development in the Philippines is now
in its mature stage, where most of the geothermal fields
have been operating for 10-30 years. On the other hand,
Indonesia, with its 20,000 MW potential reserves, has been
held back in its geothermal development. While the
Philippines currently ranked second to the US with 1,931 MW
installed geothermal capacity, Indonesia has installed only
807 MW, approximately 4 percent of its total potential.
There are minor geothermal activities in Thailand, Vietnam
and Malaysia utilizing their low temperature resources
mainly for direct heat application. This paper presents the
current state, problems and key components of the region’s
geothermal development. A brief discussion on possible
candidate fields for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) in
the Philippines is included
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