Aboitiz Power eyes natural gas-fired power plant

Aboitiz Power Corp. is considering building a natural gas-fired power plant with at least 1,000 megawatts of capacity in anticipation of a contract auction for Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) growing supply requirement.

In an online forum cohosted by the Aboitiz group and the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines, AboitizPower president and chief executive Emmanuel Rubio said the reference fuel was natural gas but they were open to other technology if they would be proven better than gas.

Citing Meralco’s power supply procurement plan, Rubio said AboitizPower was studying the feasibility of such a project in time for additional baseload capacity that the distribution giant needed to be available starting 2030.

Overall, AboitizPower intends to rack up a total of 9,200 MW of attributable capacity by the end of this decade.

This is anchored with the “goal of a 50-50 balance between renewable energy assets and fossil fuel-based thermal generators without new coal,” Rubio said, referring to generators that run on coal.

“For baseload, we are shifting our focus to [natural] gas,” he added. “I don’t think a coal plant would be built for that (Meralco’s supply needs) given the environmental considerations and the lack of financing.”Rubio said that Meralco’s power supply contracting plans, which involved as much as 1,800 MW of capacity in one batch, was the only factor that could justify an investment in a baseload power plant.

Such power plants run round the clock as they cover the minimum electricity demand.“As of today, the technology that we see is natural gas,” the CEO said. “But we are not closing our doors to any alternative technology that will be able to provide the same capacity factor and can be as cost-competitive or even more cost-competitive than gas.”

In a related development, the Power for People Coalition hailed the recent decision of San Miguel group to scuttle plans to build three coal-fired power plants.

Even then, the umbrella group of consumer welfare advocates warned San Miguel against turning to “fossil gas.”

Natural gas is the petroleum twin of crude oil and while it may be cleaner than coal and oil, gas is still formed from fossil and thus is a source of carbon dioxide.

—Ronnel W. Domingo