Philippines urged to find right tech to meet rising power demand

Securing reliable and efficient power supply for the Philippines means finding the right technologies suited to the country’s demand, energy experts said.

“I think we have enough supply. The thing is do we have the right technologies to provide that supply? Because when there’s a tight supply then you start using expensive power plants,” Emmanuel V. Rubio, president and chief executive officer of Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), said at the BusinessWorld Insights’ “Energy Security: Powering the Philippines’ Economic Growth” forum on Tuesday.

“And hopefully, we won’t use diesel anymore. In fact, we have de-commissioned a number of our diesel plants because we believe that we won’t be needing them,” he added.

Mr. Rubio said that the “primary metric” in determining if the supply and demand ratio is healthy is through the prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

He said that WESM prices have been “stable” for the past year. WESM is where energy companies can buy power when their long-term contracted power supply is insufficient for customer needs. 

However, Mr. Rubio said that as the economy continues to grow, there is a need for more baseload capacity.

“Unfortunately, I think a combination of variable renewable energy… combined with energy storage… to supply baseload, I think, it’s still not there. It’s not going to be competitive,” he said.

“But what we have proven in TerraSolar is that to supply mid merit… a combination of variable renewable energy, which is solar plants, and energy storage, which is lithium-ion battery, is already as competitive as your normal source of energy, which is before diesel and now LNG (liquefied natural gas),” he added.

MGen, the power generation arm of Manila Electric Co., holds a portfolio with a combined gross capacity of 2,602 megawatts (MW) from both traditional and renewable energy sources.

The company is currently developing a project, now known as MTerra Solar, which consists of a 3,500-MW solar power plant and a 4,500-megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system.

“By working closely with our partners and investors we combine capital, local expertise and operational excellence to deliver a project that responds directly to the country’s energy needs at scale and in alignment with our national targets,” Mr. Rubio said.

Alexander D. Ablaza, president of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance, Inc., said that energy efficiency should be regarded as an “asset class” that should be ready for public private partnerships.

“Every time we talk about clean energy and sustainable energy, we should keep that balance of keeping energy efficiency in renewable energy because that will bring us to our 2050 pathway,” he said.

At the 28^th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change last year, a historic agreement was reached, which sets a target of net-zero emission by 2050.

Mr. Ablaza also cited COP28 call to double energy efficiency progress through 2030.

On the government side, state-run National Electrification Administration (NEA) has reaffirmed its commitment to deliver reliable electricity in rural areas, noting its partner electric cooperatives (ECs) are adapting to the changing energy landscape.

“We are not without solutions. These very challenges are driving us to explore new approaches, adopt emerging technologies, and strengthen our partnerships,” said Ernesto O. Silvano, Jr., NEA deputy administrator for technical services.

Mr. Silvano said that ECs are facing various challenges, including vulnerability to natural disasters, volatile WESM prices and aging infrastructure.

He said that the P200-million budget allocated for the Electric Cooperatives Emergency Resiliency Fund of this year “is no longer enough to support crisis response.”     

As of March 13, 98% of the fund has already been dispersed, but there are 25 ECs “severely affected” by last year’s calamities still lack the financial support needed to fully restore their distribution systems.

“By allowing funds to be used for retrofitting infrastructure, enhancing resiliency, and investing in preparedness measures, we can better equip our electric cooperatives to withstand future disasters and minimize their impact,” he said.

The NEA is primarily responsible for rural electrification, bringing electricity to missionary or economically unviable parts of the countryside.

The government hopes to achieve total electrification by 2028. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera