AboitizPower eyes LNG dev’t in Luzon

MANILA  -Aboitiz Power Corp. is eyeing Luzon as an ideal location for potential liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects to help meet the growing electricity demand in the country’s largest island group, a top official told reporters last week.

AboitizPower president and chief executive Emmanuel Rubio said the municipality of Pagbilao in Quezon province was an available site for future LNG development as long as they would be able to secure long-term “competitive LNG contracts.”

“We’ve already articulated our plans for LNG. Any LNG project we will be doing in the future will be in the context of putting up a new baseload option compared to coal,” he said.

According to Rubio, Luzon has a 600- to 700-megawatt (MW) additional power requirement every year, and the country is banking on the reintegration of the 1,200-MW Ilijan LNG plant to help meet this demand.

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. previously said Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific International Holdings (AG&P) had recently received the country’s first LNG cargo delivery that would fuel the Batangas plant.

https://business.inquirer.net/398032/first-lng-cargo-arrives-in-ph-via-singapore-based-firm

In December, AboitizPower announced its plan to develop a 150-MW LNG plant in Naga City, Cebu province that it would likely pursue with Japanese firm Jera.

Rubio noted that AboitizPower was also hoping to secure long-term LNG contracts with the help of Jera, with which they had previously partnered to explore ammonia co-firing in coal plants.

LNG, being a cleaner source of energy than coal, is seen by many as critical during the global transition to a low-carbon future but some institutions worry about the cost structure.

https://business.inquirer.net/328791/aboitiz-power-eyes-natural-gas-fired-power-plant

Wind prospects

As for offshore wind, Rubio said there were still “a lot of questions” on costing, given that the technology was “quite expensive” in the Philippines.

Local power distributors have said that the average cost of wind power in the country was between $1.4 million and $1.6 million per MW, as compared with solar power that’s priced at around $700,000 per MW.

Still, Rubio said that “eventually, as technology gets more competitive, I think offshore wind is going to be a viable option with higher capacity than onshore wind and solar.”

https://business.inquirer.net/372485/doe-pushes-for-more-offshore-wind-projects

Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) show that the agency has awarded 57 offshore wind service contracts in the country with a combined potential capacity of about 42,000 MW.

These projects will be developed in the coming years, the DOE said, and are expected to generate enough power to supply around 1 million households.