Solar rooftop to unlock 13 GW of energy

Aboitiz Power Corp. said over the weekend solar rooftops can unlock 13 gigawatts of renewable energy, but restrictions to its wider adoption should be addressed.

AboitizPower chief finance officer Sandro Aboitiz said during Stratbase ADR Institute’s Pilipinas Conference 2024 that the country’s clean energy transition requires a holistic approach.

“The journey is not going to be linear. It’s extremely complex and it ultimately requires transforming the entire energy system — the supply side, the networks, and the demand side,” Aboitiz said.

“Part of our focus is ensuring that we can help the demand side — through rooftop solar, for example — to help consumers be part of the solution as well,” he said.

He said technology and consumer preferences change rapidly over time. “Policy and regulation have to keep pace and evolve fast enough to enable innovation and experimentation to help us find new solutions,” he said.

“In the Philippines, we estimate there are around 13 million households who are eligible for rooftop solar but penetration is very low. The question is why is that happening? Do net metering rules have to be improved? Do we need to further incentivize people to put panels on their roofs?” he said.

Aboitiz also cited the country’s economic growth potential in the coming years and the accompanying increase in electricity demand that should be met.

“The economy continues to grow at 6 percent a year, [translating] to about 600 to 700 megawatts of new baseload demand that is needed just in Luzon alone,” the executive said.

“We have an opportunity and the responsibility to continue building baseload projects where it makes sense to support the economic growth of the country, whether that means expanding some of our coal facilities in places like the Visayas and investing in LNG platforms,” he said.

AboitizPower plans to build 3,600 MW of new renewable energy capacity en route to 4,600 MW by 2030.

It has over 1,000 MW of disclosed projects from various indigenous energy sources and is constantly pursuing opportunities to grow its portfolio for solar, hydro, geothermal, wind and energy storage systems.