Aboitiz Power Corp. underscored the need to maximize high-generating non-renewable sources like conventional coal power plants with a capacity factor of 57.5 percent to 68.5 percent to address the country’s growing power demand.
Aboitiz Power chief corporate services officer Carlos Aboitiz said other technologies such as renewable energy have lower capacity factor compared to coal. Solar has a capacity factor of 20 percent while onshore wind has 31 percent.
Aboitiz said natural gas (44.2 percent to 64.2 percent) and nuclear (93.1 percent) capacities should be further explored as other viable options.
“Often, we hear pronouncements that renewables are cheaper than their fossil fuel counterparts… Unfortunately, the math doesn’t add up,” Aboitiz said.
“Today’s math is based on incomplete accounting, using the levelized cost of electricity or LCOE as opposed to accounting for the intermittency and lack of resource[s] in solar and wind during different times of the day and year,” Aboitiz said during the recent Asia Power Forum.
He said there is a lack of economic alternatives to fossil fuels, especially for consistent power that meets daily demand.
“The evolution of our societies as we know it today is only possible due to the evolution of our energy systems, emissions and all,” he said.
Electricity sales in the Philippines is forecasted to double in 13 years, with peak electricity demand and nationwide electricity sales growing by 5.19 percent and 5.49 percent, respectively, each year until 2050. This makes the growth of a reliable and accessible electricity supply crucial, especially as it relates to achieving the country’s macroeconomic objectives.
