Renewable-based power systems backed by grid balancing engines and energy storage can help the Philippines reach net zero emissions by 2050 especially in the Luzon Grid, according to global technology group Wärtsilä.
Wärtsilä said the Philippine government must come up with clear net-zero targets to attract clean energy investments.
Based on the firm’s power system modelling of the Luzon Grid, both the government and the private sector must rapidly accelerate the adoption of flexible balancing power plants with 13,000 megawatts (MW) needed by 2030 for the island to be on course of the targeted 35 percent renewables by that year and 50 percent by 2040 .
Wärtsilä added by 2050, Luzon will need 14,000 MW of balancing power plants and 69,000 MW of energy storage to achieve net zero emissions.
It said Luzon must install 18,000 MW of solar capacity or 63 percent more than the 11,000 MW target set out in the country’s Power Development Plan.
Wärtsilä said once the plan is achieved, the country would also have a reduced need for combined cycle gas turbines and coal, down by 5,000 MW to 12,700 MW by 2030, even under a business-as-usual scenario.
“The results of the study clearly show the opportunity of a generation is in reach for the Philippines’ energy leaders. In the Philippines, renewables can be levelled up using flexible capacity to serve the current load, while comfortably meeting rising power demand and decarbonizing at the lowest cost,” said David Kayanan, Wärtsilä’s financial and market analyst.
In an online briefing yesterday, Kayanan said a clear net zero commitment will send a “strong signal to investors” to help the country attract the investments to achieve this transition to cleaner energy.
“On the flip side, without a net zero goal, the Philippines risks detaching itself from an increasingly climate-conscious global community and worsening its own exposure to climate change,” Kayanan said. – Jed Macapagal
