It was a great panel but I also said something that may have have caused some discomfort among the audience when I said that I am all for financing renewables, but the problem is that we are not giving any incentives to build baseload and we may end up with power shortages.
In support of the thrust of the government, various financial institutions and corporations have provided their respective commitments towards this goal with BDO Unibank, Inc. at the forefront with its Sustainable Energy Finance program as early as 2010 in partnership with the International Finance Corporation. Since then, BDO Unibank, Inc.
This is not exactly far from DOE PEP’s projection that to get 35 -50 percent renewable energy mix since an additional 45.6 to 73.9 GW may be needed to reach these goals. With the current coal moratorium in place since 2022 and delays in development of LNG as the next man up to provide base load, what would the country’s main baseload source would be as Malampaya supplies diminishes? True that LNG depots are being built, but other than the SMCGP, Aboitiz Power and Mgen integrated LNG facility that should generate 2,500 MW and Batangas Clean Energy’s 1,200 MW where will these next sets of generation plants be built and when will these come...
As it is, there is no clear sight on incremental growth of the other side of the 50 percent target nor is there an immediate replacement for coal-powered baseload. There is a need to get clarity about what is the next source of baseload and the timing of these developments.