ABOITIZPOWER Corp. has partnered with JERA Co., Inc. to explore the feasibility of co-firing ammonia on coal-fired plants, and hydrogen on liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, it said on Thursday.
In a press release, the company said it was targeting to start the study next year and come up with the results in a decade. The initiative is part of its plan to further reduce carbon emission during thermal power generation, it added.
JERA will start a 20% ammonia generation demonstration test in Japan in 2023 before gradually increasing it to 50% by 2028, AboitizPower said.
The company said it was also trying to get financial support for its ammonia co-firing feasibility study from the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Japan.
AboitizPower said that aside from renewable energy (RE) sources, developing LNG to power projects is also deemed vital to meet the country’s power needs.
The Department of Energy (DoE) is positioning LNG as a necessary transition fuel while the renewable energy infrastructure is being built.
LNG is being put forward as a solution to the country’s looming power crisis as its only indigenous commercial source of natural gas — the Malampaya gas field — is expected to start depleting.
Earlier, AboitizPower said it was considering putting up an additional capacity of 1,200 megawatts (MW) using LNG.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in his first address to Congress in July last year said it was time to reexamine state policy on nuclear energy.
The DoE is planning to release the Philippine Energy Plan in September, which is expected to include nuclear in the energy mix, as well as studies on emerging technologies such as small modular reactors or SMRs.
AboitizPower is targeting to expand its RE portfolio in the next 10 years and has set an ambition of building an additional 3,700 MW of renewables, growing its capacities to 4,600 MW by 2030.
To date, the company has a pipeline of renewable energy projects of over 1,000 MW, which include the development of wind, solar, and geothermal plants.
At the stock exchange on Thursday, shares in the company fell by 10 centavos or 0.26% to end at P37.75 apiece. — Ashley Erika O. Jose