‘Power crisis looms without balanced energy mix’

October 5, 2024 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The country needs a balanced approach toward energy transition, as overdependence on a single power source could lead to a dire energy crisis, according to Aboitiz Power Corp.

“We need to make sure that coal power plants and fossil fuel power plants will continue to run and support our baseload,” AboitizPower chief engineering and project officer Don Paulino said.

Paulino made this point during the energy forum organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines at the Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Makati yesterday, which was attended by key energy executives and stakeholders.

Without reliable baseload power, Paulino warned that the Philippines might end up “going back to 1998,” or worse, experience again a crippling power crisis, just like what happened to Mindanao over a decade ago.

The region suffered from an energy crisis in 2012, mainly due to insufficient baseload capacity and an unbalanced power generation mix.

Baseload power plants are generation facilities that can produce continuous, reliable and efficient power at low cost to meet daily demand. They operate at all times except during repairs or scheduled maintenance.

“We need to make sure that we continue to grow the army and actually explore the technologies that will support it, including batteries. Now, that brings us to the balanced approach,” Paulino said.

The executive was referring to a balanced mix of power generation capacity, which is 50 percent renewable energy and 50 percent baseload power.

Among renewables, only geothermal and biomass can provide baseload supply.

However, geothermal development is capital intensive, as it requires exploration and drilling of steam wells, while biomass faces issues on sustainability of fuel source all year round.

“How that base load will look will really be dependent on available technology but also the affordability. Because for us to be energy secure, it needs to be affordable,” Paulino said.

The official also underscored the need for power companies to invest in innovation and other technologies, including the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into generation facilities.

“What we want to do is to actually allow them (power plants) to contribute to the energy transition by increasing their availability. That’s why innovations like AI technology, making our power plants smart, are an important part of what we’re trying to do now,” he said.