Danessa
Rivera (The Philippine Star) - April 19, 2018 - 12:00am
ILOILO City,
Philippines — Pangilinan-led Global Business Power Corp. (GBP) will develop 300
megawatts (MW) of renewable energy projects as it ramps up its capacity to
include sustainable energy solutions in five years starting 2019.
The company has formed
a new strategy to build its renewable energy portfolio in consideration of
supporting policies being laid down by the Department of Energy (DOE), GBP
president Jaime Azurin said in an interview after the company inaugurated the
GBP Institute for Energy (GIE) here.
“Our strategy is to
minimize the fossil-based fuel,” he said. “That is the new strategy for us that
we are going to adopt to address RPS.”
RPS, or renewable
portfolio standards, is a policy recently issued by the DOE requiring
distribution utilities to source a portion of their power supply from eligible
renewable energy producers.
GBP is pursuing a new five-year vision where 300 MW of renewable energy will be
developed, Azurin said.
The target will consist
of solar power developments and pumped-storage hydropower project to be
announced before the year ends.
“We’re almost at the
end of development stage of using pumped-storage for ancillary. It’s a
specially designed plant, in fact, it is only in Europe where you can find
this,” Azurin said.
In terms of capacity
breakdown, the pumped-storage hydro project is targeted to have a capacity of
150 MW located in the Visayas.
“It has to be big
enough for ancillary services,” Azurin said. Ancillary services are necessary
to support the transmission capacity, maintaining reliable operation of the
transmission system and electricity supply in the grid.
For solar, GBP is
planning 50 MW, including five MW in its remaining five-hectare land in its
Panay Energy Development Corp. power complex, where the GIE is also located.
“To make it viable, it’s about 50 MW per farm.
We’re going to use the land here (in the complex). And it’s part and parcel of
our commitment to Iloilo City that we put up a renewable source,” Azurin said.
Other areas being
looked at is Luzon, the company official said.
GBP is also planning to
put up biomass power projects and is awaiting the DOE circular officially
extending the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme for the technology.
Currently, it has a
total installed capacity of 854 MW, with facilities located in Cebu, Iloilo,
Aklan, and Mindoro. In 2017, GBP acquired a 50-percent stake in Mindanao-based
Alsons Thermal Energy Corp.
The company inaugurated
yesterday its training facility to enhance energy efficiency through technical
training, using a circulating fluidized bed boiler simulator to aid optimized
operations of its power plant facilities.
Azurin said nearly P300
million was invested in the two-story, 1,863-square-meter training facility,
which will serve as the learning and development hub for all GBP employees
across its eleven power generation facilities in Panay, Mindoro and Cebu.
GBP chairman Jose Maria
K. Lim said the training facility is the company’s strategic initiative to help
move the country forward through the creation of a robust pool of highly
skilled, highly dedicated professionals who can meet and even exceed the
demands of the dynamic energy industry.
The company envisions
to help build leaders who can enrich and expand knowledge in the sector.
Lim said a dynamic
energy sector is crucial for economic growth. The government’s thrust to usher
in a golden era of infrastructure through the Build Build Build program will
require close cooperation from the private sector, and the GIE is a testament
to GBP’s commitment to be a partner in nation-building.
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