THE availability of transition credits (TCs) for coal-to-clean energy initiatives will motivate more companies to engage in sustainability efforts, according to an executive of ACEN Corp. 

Eric Francia, ACEN president and chief executive officer, said in a statement yesterday this will help in the early retirement of coal-fired power plants in the country.

Francia shared these views as a panelist at the Climate Week NYC in New York where he noted the significant role of TCs in overcoming the challenges of energy transitions in emerging markets, including resource constraints, land and infrastructure issues and the need for “costly” renewable energy replacements.

“One of the challenges that we need to overcome is the global south mindset that we did not cause this global problem of climate change. It is a challenge to overcome that mindset because that leads to inaction or a passive mindset. But we think different. We rise to the challenge, thanks to transition credits,” Francia said.

Francia added a just transition should also be done in a way that protects vulnerable communities during the shift from coal to clean energy. 

Last August, ACEN partnered with global investment platforms, GenZero and Keppel Ltd. to jointly explore the origination and utilization of TCs to accelerate the retirement of South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.’s (SLTEC) coal-fired power plant in Batangas to be replaced with a clean energy dispatch facility.

The parties have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the project which is eyed to be one of the first converted coal-fired power plants in the world to generate TCs.

Under the MOU, the parties will jointly undertake a development study to explore utilizing TCs to facilitate the project’s implementation and achievement of the early retirement goal.

The origination and sale of TCs will help to accelerate the decommissioning of the 246 megawatts (MW) SLTEC coal-fired power plant by ten years or by 2030, as well as to support just transition initiatives.

The project will also explore the development of end-to-end technological solutions and economic model of the coal-to-clean transition focused on the replacement of the 246 MW baseload of the coal-fired power plant with a mid-merit integrated renewables and energy storage system consisting of solar plant and battery storage.

ACEN as a group, is one of the fastest growing RE platforms in the Asia Pacific.

The company has effectively achieved its goal of reaching 5,000 MW of RE capacity by 2025, with attributable capacity representing 4,700 MW of installed projects and 1,000 MW of signed agreements or won competitive tenders.

ACEN aims to increase its renewable capacity to 20,000 MW by 2030 to help provide clean, reliable and affordable energy to more people and to also become a Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions company by 2050.

Apart from the Philippines, ACEN also currently has projects in Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, India, United States and Taiwan.