LNG seen playing critical role in phaseout of coal plants
By Myrna M. Velasco – November 19, 2021, 3:17 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Generating facilities feeding on liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be playing a ‘critical role’ in the energy transition from coal-fired power as envisioned by the government.
For that vision to be concretized though, Jonathan Russell, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Lopez-led First Gen Corporation, said the process “will require close collaboration with the government and other industry stakeholders to assure the country’s smooth clean energy transition and avoid energy market volatility.”
During the 26th Conference of the Electricity Power Supply Industry (CEPSI), the First Gen executive highlighted that “coal power generation is the single biggest cause of global temperature increases.” Hence, he sounded off “the imperative to urgently scale up the deployment of clean power to accelerate energy transition.”
Russell further cited the recently-circulated report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which shows heightened levels of unprecedented natural calamities all over the world. With that, Russell stated “there is really no doubt that if we do not effect drastic changes to address climate change today, its effects will soon become irreversible.”
The Philippine government is widely perceived to be “on the right track” in terms of accelerating the deployment of renewable energy (RE) technologies on its energy mix. However, to address their ubiquitous dilemma of intermittency, right technology coupling has to be prudently weighed up in comprehensive energy planning.
“RE from intermittent sources, such as solar and wind, has a number of limitations that will hinder a full and immediate energy transition,” Russell stressed.
For other RE technologies, primarily those with baseload generation capabilities like geothermal, Russell emphasized that they have “technical limitations to deal with,” hence, their scale of generation cannot be maximized.
On the need for flexible technology that can plug the on-and-off generation of renewables, Russell said “gas-fired plants can respond quickly and reliably when variable renewable sources are not available, allowing the lights to stay.”
First Gen is currently moving headway on the construction of its proposed interim LNG terminal – which will have floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) as a key feature. The facility is targeted on commercial stream by fourth quarter of 2022.
Russell nevertheless qualified that “while we share the belief that LNG is the best transition fuel in achieving 100-percent RE, it does not come without challenges, especially in the Philippines.”
The First Gen executive thus noted that “we must find a way to value gas for some time and increase its capacity for back-up rather than continuous supply. And this means having a regulatory framework that supports making plans to have enough fuel in stock for when it is needed.”
