Aboitiz pushes investment-friendly policies to boost renewables adoption
By Alena Mae S. Flores – August 30, 2024, 7:50 pm
from manilastandard.net
Aboitiz Power Corp. is pushing for an investment-friendly environment to foster the progress of renewable energy projects and help boost its adoption.
AboitizPower chief investment officer Joseph Lacson is calling for strengthened cooperation among all stakeholders to fully unlock the potential of renewable energy.
“While the potential benefits of a renewable energy future are immense, the path is fraught with many challenges. The current business landscape is characterized by some degree of uncertainty, bureaucratic hurdles, and a shortage of skilled professional workers,” he said during the Energy Smart Forum 2024 event by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
“A multifaceted approach is essential to our journey toward a renewable energy future. A robust policy framework that encourages investment and innovation is paramount,” he said, noting how the responsibility of the energy transition does not fall squarely on power producers.
He said banks and financial institutions “play a catalytic role in driving investments”, while the public sector serves as a “cornerstone of any successful energy transition”, ensuring community involvement and addressing policy and regulatory concerns.
He said continuous research and development from the academe, scientists, and industry professionals are also “essential to enhance the competitiveness and efficiency of renewable energy technologies”, while the transmission and distribution sectors are important in “modernizing and expanding [the] grid infrastructure” to serve the requirements of power consumers.
Lacson said focus should also be on energy security amid a projected annual growth rate of 5.19 percent in peak electricity demand and the need to sustain economic growth for development.
He said this would necessitate a balanced utilization and maximization of traditional yet dispatchable energy sources like coal and natural gas.
AboitizPower is expanding its generation portfolio with over 1,000 megawatts of energy projects in solar, hydro, geothermal, wind and energy storage systems en route to building 3,700 megawatts of new clean capacity.
It manages the country’s largest renewable energy portfolio, based on installed capacity under its operational control.
The company recently energized the 159-MWpeak Laoag solar power plant and the 94-MWp Cayanga-Bugallon solar power facility in Pangasinan as well as the 17-MW Tiwi binary geothermal power plant in Albay.
SN Aboitiz Power Group also began commercial operations of the 24-MW Magat battery energy storage system (BESS) early this year which is primarily being used for ancillary services to augment supply in the Luzon grid.
Lacson said the 173-MWp Calatrava Solar Project in Negros Occidental, the 45-MWp Armenia Solar in Tarlac, and the 212-MWp Olongapo Solar in Zambales are in various stages of completion.
