Wärtsilä pushes flexible power

By Manila Standard Business – April 16, 2024, 7:45 pm

Technology group Wärtsilä Energy is calling for urgent action to enable more flexibility in power systems in the Philippines.

The government earlier published the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) 2020–2040, providing the strategic building blocks to decarbonize electricity by increasing renewable energy production and investment. The NREP set a target of 35-percent renewable energy by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

Wärtsilä said renewable energy would become the world’s largest electricity source by 2025, and it is vital that flexible technologies are deployed at scale and pace to support such transition to avoid widespread curtailment, increased prices, greater fluctuations and higher emissions.

“We stand at a tipping point, with unprecedented levels of renewables being added in the Philippines over the next decade and huge volumes of traditional inflexible assets on the cusp of retirement. Over the past decade, we have transitioned from renewables requiring financial support, to a position where inflexible assets, such as oil, coal, CCGTs [combined-cycle gas turbines] and nuclear are no longer viable without political support,” said Kari Punnonen, energy business director for Australasia at Wärtsilä Energy.