AboitizPower gearing up for expanded RE portfolio

By Lenie Lectura -February 14, 2020
from Business Mirror

ABOITIZ Power Corp. is gearing up to expand its renewable-energy (RE) portfolio in the next 10 years.

AboitizPower President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel Rubio said 65 percent of all new capacity will come from RE as opportunities in the RE sector thrive with the government’s Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and Green Energy Option Program (GEOP).

“We estimate that 65 percent of all new capacity investments we will be making will be in renewables in the next 10 years because of opportunities in RPS and GEOP and investment overseas,” he said.

RPS is a market-based policy that requires electricity suppliers to source an agreed portion of their energy supply from eligible RE resources.

The Green Energy Option Program, meanwhile, is a mechanism providing end-users the option to choose RE Resources as their source of energy.

The Renewable Energy Management Bureau of the Department of Energy (DOE) is working tirelessly to put all RE ahead of its conventional counterparts. The DOE is now implementing policies such as RPS and GEOP to improve the market viability of RE resources. Meanwhile, the Competitive Renewable Energy Zoning (CREZ) will resolve issues on the zoning of RE projects.

Also, RA 11234 or the EVOSS Act and ED 30 (Energy Projects of National Significance) help streamline the processing of all relevant regulatory permits.

“We expect DOE will be strict in compliance, resulting in a requirement for additional capacity by 2029 of just a little less than 10,000 megawatts, assuming the capacity factor of that RE technology that will be installed is around 18 percent,” Rubio said.

Rubio said AboitizPower will participate and comply with the DOE’s programs and policies that will foster RE.

“We are preparing to participate and capture a piece of this market. We are also looking at RE opportunities in South East Asia, particularly in Vietnam. All of these will contribute to a shift  in our portfolio by 2029, to a more balanced RE to Thermal ratio,” he added.

Aside from Vietnam, Aboitiz Power is also looking at Indonesia and Myanmar with focus on hydro and solar.