DOE eyes addition of 8,000 MW of capacity by 2028

By Alena Mae S. Flores – July 26, 2023, 8:45 pm
from manilastandard.net

The Department of Energy is working to bring in 8,000 megawatts of new power generation capacity by 2028, including 43 percent from renewable projects.

“The President stressed the need to diversify our sources of power and energy, and renewable energy is the key because this is indigenous and therefore readily available for us, not subject to the volatilities of the external market,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said during the post-SONA forum at the Hilton Manila in Pasay City.

Lotilla said that by 2028, peak demand in the Philippines would reach about 25,000 MW, up from the current 17,000 MW.

“And to be able to meet that demand, we will have to make available more than 8,000 MW of new capacity,” the energy chief said.

“Under the vision of the President, 43 percent of that should at least be renewable energy. But renewable energy as you know is site-specific and therefore connectivity is at the core of RE. We have to connect the source to the market,” Lotilla said.

He said RE would be supported by battery energy storage systems and other technologies.

Philippine Independent Power Producers Association Inc. asked the support of DOE and the Energy Regulatory Commission as its members undertake efforts and commit significant investments in the field of new technologies and/or fuel sources such as energy storage, LNG, hydrogen, ammonia and other technologies.

PIPPA expressed appreciation to President Marcos for his determination to pursue energy priorities, policies and programs that he declared last year.

“The results have been remarkable, amazing and truly refreshing. PIPPA’s member generators pledge their support to the President’s declared priorities such as the relentless pursuit of total electrification, the accelerated realization of His Excellency’s green energy goal and the push for more gas exploration on a national scale,” PIPPA said.

PIPPA welcomed the performance review of the National Grid Corporation and said it was looking forward to working with NGCP as a critical partner “not only of the generation sector, but together with the distribution sector, for the achievement of a truly unified grid that will be adequate, open, responsive and non-discriminatory.”

“We look forward to working in earnest with the DOE for the purpose of achieving long-term and strategic energy security that will not only look at new power generating capacities, but one that will also help ensure that the capacities that we presently have that are already clean, reliable and affordable, are fully utilized and enabled to continue providing for both national development and consumer welfare,” the group said.

Lotilla said the role of government is to support the initiatives of the private sector.

“So far, the department has approved 126 service contracts in renewable energy in the one year of the Marcos administration. And these represent around 31,000 MW,” he said.

Lotilla said around 27 percent of the capacity needed by 2028 would come from natural gas while some capacity would still be sourced from coal.

He said some of these capacities were already committed projects that would come online by 2028.

“Developments in technology are moving fast and i hope they move faster so there are now proposals for example converting the old coal-fired power plants into not just co-firing with ammonia, but this is still being discussed, but our new technologies in the US they can use coal-fired facilities to produce graphene and then with hydrogen as a by-product,” Lotilla said.

“Let’s hope that these mature in time,” he said.

The DOE said eight new generation facilities became operational from July 2022 to June 2023, increasing the country’s installed capacity by 930.8 MW and dependable capacity by 801.6 MW.

Additional capacities from the uprating of existing power plants also contributed to the increase in installed capacity totaling 1,174 MW.

The dependable capacity increased by 1,764 MW due to the return to the service of the 1,200-MW Ilijan power plant whose dependable capacity was considered zero since June 2022.