AboitizPower’s clean energy strategy to help spur PH’s progress

December 12, 2023

Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower) strengthens its presence in the Philippine power industry with its decarbonization strategy of expanding its clean energy portfolio to 4,600 megawatts (MW) over the next decade, with close to 1,000 MW already in the pipeline.

The Company already supports the growth and development of businesses and communities as one out of every five megawatts of installed generation capacity is attributed to AboitizPower. Currently, in partnership with various stakeholders, it presides over the largest and most diversified renewable energy (RE) platform in the Philippines in terms of installed capacity under its operational purview.

But as demand for electricity continues to increase every year, AboitizPower has commenced with the development of new energy projects with a cumulative capacity of close to 1,000 MW and encompassing various technologies like solar, hydro, geothermal, wind, and energy storage systems.

AboitizPower expects its 159 MW peak (MWp) Laoag solar plant in Pangasinan to come online in 2024. It has also embarked on the construction of its 172 MWp solar power project in Calatrava, Negros Occidental and its monumental 211 MWp solar power project in Olongapo, Zambales. The latter represents AboitizPower’s most extensive solar undertaking to date.

These endeavors augment AboitizPower's portfolio of solar projects, bringing the total count to five. This includes the commercially operational 59 MWp San Carlos Sun Power Inc. in Negros Occidental, which is AboitizPower’s first solar energy project, as well as the 94 MWp Cayanga- Bugallon Solar Power in Pangasinan, which began delivering electricity to the grid this year.

Meanwhile, the 17 MW binary geothermal plant located in Tiwi, Albay is expected to be operational by early 2024.

On wind, AboitizPower’s 206 MWp San Isidro Wind Power Project with Vena Energy and Vivant Energy Corporation in Northern Samar, Visayas is targeted to commence with its commercial operations in the first quarter of 2025. Another wind venture with Vena Energy for a 102 MWp project in Rizal and Laguna is also expected to begin commercial operations in 2025.

These strides in renewable energy are complemented by strategic investments in battery energy storage systems (BESS), including the 49 MW Maco BESS in Davao de Oro, considered the largest in Mindanao and deemed by Enlit Asia as the “Energy Storage Project of the Year” across the ASEAN region. On the other hand, the soon-to-be-operational SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) 24 MW Magat BESS in Isabela is set for 2024.

Notably, the Maco BESS represents the first of its kind in Southeast Asia built atop a floating platform. BESS technology plays a pivotal role in providing regulating and contingency reserve power to the nation's power grids. With the Magat BESS, SNAP-Magat also hosts the 200 kilowatt Magat Floating Solar Pilot Project, one of the largest of its kind in the Philippines.

Overall, these efforts supplement the country’s goal to have the share of RE in its power generation mix to be 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040.

On the distribution side, AboitizPower owns utilities that operate in high-growth areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. This includes Visayan Electric Company, Inc. and Davao Light & Power Co., Inc., the country’s second and third-largest private utilities, respectively, which cumulatively serves almost a million customers daily.

They remain steadfast in rural electrification programs aimed at illuminating its franchise areas and ensuring electricity access for every household. As of now, the distribution utilities under AboitizPower’s purview in Visayas and Mindanao have successfully energized over 99% of their franchise areas.

With the start of commercial operations of Open Access, AboitizPower has also become the leading provider of retail electricity services based on market share, giving its partners and customers affordable access to dependable power via tailor-fit energy solutions, power quality and efficiency audits, and other value-added services.

In tandem with its decarbonization strategy, AboitizPower is also Transforming Energy for a Better World through its digitalization and decentralization (or growing-beyond-the-core) initiatives. This draws inspiration from the Aboitiz Group’s Great Transformation into becoming the country’s first Techglomerate.

Earlier this year, AboitizPower launched its Data Innovation Program with Aboitiz Data Innovation or ADI, the artificial intelligence and data science arm of the Aboitiz Group. With ADI, the potential of new inventions, innovations, and data will be harnessed for the benefit of AboitizPower’s generation, distribution, and commercial operations, and ultimately, the consumers.

As an energy company, AboitizPower wields significant influence in advancing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, which revolves around "ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all." Being an indispensable part of modern life, electricity is integral to the fulfillment of the other SDGs; from addressing poverty, hunger, and climate change to providing clean water and sanitation, all of which are interconnected. Without reliable power, countries cannot enable and develop education, food security, technology and innovation, jobs, and the like.

In alignment with SDG 11, focusing on the development of "sustainable cities and communities," AboitizPower is helping cities attain cleaner mobility. The Company recently launched its Electric Vehicle Fleet Transformation Program in support of the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act or EVIDA, with the aim of transitioning 40% of its fleet of four-wheeled vehicles and motorbikes to electric alternatives by 2030, ultimately culminating in full electrification by 2040.