AboitizPower pushes for longer energy transition period

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines should have a longer energy transition period for secure and affordable energy supply to meet the country’s needs, according to Aboitiz Power Corp.

“I think that our timeline in the Philippines should be longer than the average country,” AboitizPower chief corporate services officer Carlos Aboitiz said in a roundtable with The STAR.

He said the way the company views energy transition is that it should be undertaken proportionate to one’s responsibility, capability and vulnerability.

In the case of the Philippines, which is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate risks, but has generated less than the global average in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and has a gross domestic product per capita below the global average, Aboitiz said the priority should be being able to adapt to climate change.

“Our priority should be adaptation. We’re vulnerable. Let’s focus on adapting to the problem,” he said.

“Why? Because we haven’t created it, we can’t proportionally afford to solve it and we have the highest bill at the end of the year anyway that we have to pay to keep our community safe,” he added.

AboitizPower believes the country needs to be given more time to adapt to the problem.

While the company recognizes that renewable energy (RE) is part of the solution, Aboitiz said this is not the only solution.

The government is aiming to have 35 percent RE share in the generation mix by 2030.

Aboitiz said there is room to increase RE, but it should be done without compromising energy affordability and security.

“Knowing that we can’t forget about energy security  and energy affordability means we also have to continue to invest in thermal, in gas and coal,” he said.

According to Aboitiz, shutting down coal plants today would decimate the economy and write off investments made in the past.

“We think that the priority of our politicians, our regulators and all our stakeholders should be on energy affordability,” he said.

For AboitizPower, he said the company is looking to achieve a balanced energy mix.

“We hope to have a balanced energy mix,  50-50 capacity mix of thermal and renewable energy and hopefully we’re helping to keep prices reasonable,” he said.

He said the company is also open to nuclear energy.

“We think we should be Investing in that because we don’t have a lot of options,” he said.