First Gen Corporation (First Gen), the country's leading producer of renewable energy (RE), is expecting more large-scale power consumers to explore innovative energy solutions in order to assure their electricity supply while meeting their sustainability and decarbonization goals.
Carlo Vega, vice president and head of power marketing and economics at First Gen, is anticipating more big electricity users to take this approach as they adjust to challenges posed by the country's growing power demand; precarious power supply situation; and the need to reduce carbon emissions, especially from carbon-intensive coal, the dominant fuel for the country's power plants.
"More companies recognize that, while they cannot get full RE, they want to discuss a plan on how to decarbonize," Vega said during a presentation at the recent 2024 Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Convention and Exhibition in Pasay City.
But the First Gen official said that the country's power reserves are inadequate due in part to increased economic activity. At the same time, the country has to reduce its carbon emissions as part of a global campaign to fight adverse climate change.
"The question we need to answer is how we intend to address this growth while we transition to more decarbonized energy future," Vega told participants to the Pasay City forum organized by the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc., a trade association whose members include the country's biggest power consumers.
"So, considering climate change, energy security and the government's policy promoting renewables for a decarbonized future, we must plan for a cleaner energy scenario where coal contributes less in the power mix," Vega pointed out.
First Gen is positioning itself as a provider of innovative and low-carbon energy solutions. It has over 1,650 megawatts (MW) of RE capacity from 26 power facilities running on hydro, wind, solar and geothermal resources.
First Gen also owns and operates four power plants running on natural gas, the cleanest form of fossil fuel. Together, these 30 power generating facilities have a combined capacity of 3,668 MW, making First Gen also one of the country's largest independent power producers.
Vega said First Gen cannot provide a fully renewable energy solution to all its customers due to supply limitations. But he explained that electricity from natural gas presents "a pragmatic solution with its lower carbon footprint and ability to flexibly provide reliable baseload, mid-merit, and peaking power supply needs."
For two decades, supply of fuel for First Gen's natural gas-fired power plants came from the Malampaya gas field off the shores of Palawan. This supply of indigenous fuel is now facing depletion. In order to assure the supply of fuel for the gas plants, First Gen constructed a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.
"This [LNG terminal] will enable our 2,000 MW gas-fired plants to continue operating and address the energy security in the Luzon grid," Vega said.
