ACEN: Coal no energy savior despite Middle East tensions
Coal is unlikely to make a huge comeback even if the government decides to lift the ban on new facilities amid fears of the impact of the Middle East war on electricity rates, the top executive of ACEN Corp. said.
Asked for his thoughts on the proposal to lift the coal moratorium imposed in 2020, ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said that pushing for new coal plants would be “challenging” given some financing and social hurdles, particularly getting public acceptance.
If the proposal gets the government’s nod, the official said there might be a need to revisit the Philippines’ long-term energy goal, where the plan assumes that coal would remain flat.
Even if this could be the case, Francia still shot down the prospect of relying on coal, known to be the cheapest source of power.
“We can’t depend on coal saving the day in terms of energy security and so forth,” he told reporters following the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting last week.
“What’s driving the growth, serving the growth is really gas and renewables,” Francia added.
The government, he said, should “double down” on renewables expansion as well as the deployment of battery energy storage systems.
ACEN has been a crucial renewable energy producer here and abroad, with more than 7 gigawatts of clean power capacity.
The government implemented a moratorium on new coal facilities to cut carbon emissions and support the country’s shift to clean energy.
But, given the issues on high fuel prices possibly affecting power rates, Department of Economy, Planning and Development Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that this could be the right time to lift the ban.
