ABOITIZ Power Corp. is looking to build around 3,900 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy (RE) in about a decade as it seeks to reach an equal sharing of renewables and thermal energy capacity in its portfolio.

“I think that 50-50 ratio in 10 years is an aspirational target but we will get there with our aim to bring our renewable capacity estimates [to] around 3,900 MW by year 2029 to 2030,” AboitizPower President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel V. Rubio said during a media briefing after listed firm’s annual stockholders meeting on Monday evening.

He explained that the target capacity is an estimate of how much the firm can capture with the implementation of the renewable portfolio standards (RPS) program, which mandates electricity suppliers to source agreed portions of their energy supply from renewable resources.

Mr. Rubio earlier said that AboitizPower was working on a pipeline of 1,600 MW worth of hydro, wind and solar projects.

“The 1,600 [MW] is part of the 3,800 to 3,900 [MW] that we’re looking at in the next 10 years,” he said. “[On] the first few projects that we’ll start — we will be starting with solar. We’ll be groundbreaking hopefully within the year for a [solar] project in Cayanga, Pangasinan for 73 MW.”

While the firm does not have a definitive position on generating power from coal, Mr. Rubio said that AboitizPower has “always looked at the option of choosing gas” for the country’s baseload requirements. He said the group was considering gas-related projects in Luzon.

“We already have a team looking at our gas option. We’re doing very early… feasibility studies for gas on at least two locations… We have communicated that in RP Energy (Redondo Peninsula Energy, Inc.), we will not be building coal anymore, but we [are] actually reserving that side for a possible gas option,” he said.

RP Energy is a consortium composed of AboitizPower, Meralco PowerGen Corp., and Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.

On using coal for power generation, Mr. Rubio said that the fuel source will remain competitive in specific niches “but market forces will decide on that at the end of the day.”

AboitizPower produces its Cleanergy brand from its hydro, geothermal, and solar power generation facilities. The firm aims to significantly expand its Cleanergy portfolio in the next 10 years. By 2030, renewables are seen to account for 65% of the firm’s new capacities.

Shares in AboitizPower at the local bourse inched down 2.42% or 55 centavos to close at P22.20 apiece on Tuesday. — Angelica Y. Yang

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