AboitizPower Champions a Multifaceted Approach to RE Growth

Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower) Chief Investment Officer Joseph Lacson notes that the progress of renewable energy projects is best executed through environments conducive to investment, in a call for stakeholders to fully realize their shared goal through strengthened cooperation.

At the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines’ Energy Smart Forum 2024, he says, “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 emphasizes the public and private sectors’ shared responsibility over the transition with power producers, adding that “A multifaceted approach is essential to our journey toward a renewable energy future. A robust policy framework that encourages investment and innovation is paramount.”

The government is a “cornerstone of any successful energy transition”, managing policy and regulatory concerns along with involving citizens in their implementation, while the finance sector “plays a catalytic role in driving investments.”

Other key sectors are the academe, science and technology industries, whose research and development are “essential to enhance the competitiveness and efficiency of renewable energy technologies”, while the transmission and distribution industries are central to “modernizing and expanding [the] grid infrastructure” to provide for the country’s rapidly growing energy demands.

Lacson reminds his audience that energy security is the main goal to achieve and preserve, keeping in mind that peak electricity demand is set at an annual growth rate of 5.19%. There is a rising need for sustainable economic growth and development, which is achieved by the holistic optimization of both renewable and traditional energy sources such as coal and natural gas.

AboitizPower is gaining ground in the race to energy security by expanding its power generation portfolio with over 1,000 megawatts of disclosed energy projects in solar, hydro, geothermal, wind, and energy storage systems en route to building 3,700 megawatts of new clean capacity. It is the key player in helping the government reach its renewable energy targets, with the country’s largest renewable energy portfolio based on installed capacity under their management.

Among AboitizPower’s assets are the 159-MWp Laoag Solar Power Plant and the 94-MWp Cayanga-Bugallon Solar Power facility in Pangasinan, the 17-MW Tiwi Binary Geothermal Power Plant in Albay, and most recently, the 24-MW Magat battery energy storage system (BESS), whose recent start of commercial operations is set to boost the Luzon power grid.

Lacson mentioned the following additional assets in their completion stages: the 173-MWp Calatrava Solar Project in Negros Occidental, the 45-MWp Armenia Solar in Tarlac, and the 212-MWp Olongapo Solar in Zambales.

AboitizPower’s thermal energy plants further augment the country’s baseload and peak energy resources, playing an essential role in national economic growth and development along with ensuring basic demands are continually met.

Lacson says, “From projects of massive scale to rooftop solar, we [aspire] to make this [energy transition] work, hand-in-hand with stakeholders, end-users, and the government.”