By Sheldeen Joy Talavera, Reporter
ABOITIZ Power Corp. (AboitizPower) said there is a need to acknowledge the limitations of relying heavily on renewable energy (RE) and urged the industry to tap other energy sources.
“We need to accept the constraints of variable renewable energy but we also need to be creative in tapping solutions to make sure we are actually addressing the targets,” AboitizPower President and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuel V. Rubio was quoted as saying in a statement late Friday.
He said other challenges include the lack of transmission connectivity for renewables like hydro and wind, which can only be harnessed at the location of the resource.
Mr. Rubio said that the intermittent nature of solar and wind power justifies the need for “a diverse energy mix that can provide reliable and dispatchable power in sync with demand pattern of consumers.”
Meanwhile, he said the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) and the electricity spot market provide an avenue for tapping uncontracted capacity.
“In the Philippine context, if you participate in the GEAP and you win the auction, then you’re guaranteed a revenue stream,” he said.
“Other than that, AboitizPower believes in the system we have. We have a spot market that works… We were one of the first investors in the Philippines to invest significantly in the government’s privatization project… it’s a vote of confidence in the system that’s in place in the Philippines,” he added.
The company is aiming to grow its total capacity to 13 gigawatts (GW) in the next six years, of which 7.5 GW will come from new renewable energy projects.
