Light bringer leads energy offensive

When fire was domesticated, it changed the course of mankind, the same way that energy companies are now hoping to inject a new course for progress with the most accessible and cheapest source of power.

There is an urgent need to revolutionize and innovate the country's energy sector so it can keep up with the changing times.

The economy is expanding and Filipinos are becoming more prosperous, and thus our country will need more power so much so that the Philippine Energy Plan tracks supply to double in size in around 11 years.

Presently, coal-fired plants are still undeniably the largest source of local power but it is equally evident that industry stakeholders should replace these with renewable power if they want to establish long-term sustainable resources.

One of those in the forefront in building a better future for the sector is Aboitiz Power Corp. with president and CEO Emmanuel Rubio in the driver's seat.

The company believes that it is imperative to have security in power supply to meet socio-economic needs.

AboitizPower prioritizes helping meet the country's growing electricity needs to support economic growth and social development.

Delivering electricity whenever it is needed by firms, communities, and households at a cost and process that is justified and responsible enables the company to sustain its privileged position as a trusted and reliable energy provider.

A proactive leader

The first top executive within the Aboitiz Group not bearing the Aboitiz surname, Rubio has proven himself a valuable player in achieving the group's target of becoming the country's first "techglomerate."

"Fellow leaders in AboitizPower, including myself, find it awesome that the fruits of our collective labor can be seen from outer space when, from that view, we see our country lighted up," Rubio recalled in an interview with the Daily Tribune.

However, Rubio admitted that playing a part in the country's energy transition isn't as easy as some people might think.

"The pressure to adopt an oversimplified one-size-fits-all approach must come to terms with the socioeconomic conditions of the country; that we are less developed, have less leg room financially, and need more electricity supply with the least tradeoff to other industries like agriculture," he said.

For Rubio, working in a highly regulated and politicized industry is not a walk in the park so he made sure to equip his team with the right people and the right mindset.

"Our strongest asset is our people. AboitizPower invests in the holistic development of its leaders and team members, instilling them with the lasting values of integrity, teamwork, innovation, responsibility and service excellence, as well as putting them in positions where they can most succeed professionally. To a large extent, their success determines the company's success," Rubio said.

"The industry has a growing need to develop a skilled and competent workforce who will manage and further innovate the energy transition. This scarcity of skilled workers can be due to skills mismatches and/or brain drain," he added.

Without a skilled and competent workforce, he said the country risks the viability and sustainability of our energy system and, hence, the quality of life of present and future generations.

Calibrated transition

Rubio reiterated that Aboitiz Power is currently on a calibrated move to help the country's energy transition, which he said requires all parts of the power industry — generation, transmission, and distribution — to work, develop and grow together.

"A new renewable energy plant, for instance, is useless if transmission and power lines are not as developed and resilient to deliver its generated electricity to power our buildings and homes. The energy transition is not an easy task due to the sheer size and complexity of the sector," he explained.

As you might imagine, since it proposes a direct change to the status quo, the energy transition will add greater complexity to an already complex ecosystem," he added.

The influx of variable renewable energy inevitably leads the industry to consider the use of other technologies to minimize its intermittencies. This includes battery energy storage systems and non-coal baseload plants like liquified natural gas and nuclear.

"That said, the challenge is not just on balancing the demand for energy security with building a cleaner power system, but also ensuring that, amidst all this, electricity prices do not skyrocket," Rubio said.

Nonetheless, he said the Philippines' transition targets are rational in that, even amid integration of more renewable energy, it made room for another 50 percent for non-renewable sources in 2040, hence minimizing the intermittencies brought about by sources like solar and wind during this phase of the transition.

It does not lose sight of the importance of maintaining a secure and reliable energy system as it considers the national context and the repercussions of what an unjust and hasty energy transition might bring to the country's socioeconomic fortunes.

Expanding empire

AboitizPower also wanted to grow beyond its core businesses of generation, distribution, and retail electricity services and seek opportunities to harness the potential of new trends, innovations, and technologies.

"AboitizPower has come a long way from when I joined the company, and we foresee that it will be a bigger and a much different company in the future," Rubio said.

"In generation, one out of five megawatts of installed capacity is from AboitizPower, while in distribution, our utilities serve a million customers. These are already inspiring in itself; how we can directly and indirectly power the lives and prosperity of people, businesses, and communities every day."

To date, AboitizPower has close to 1,000 megawatts, or MW, of disclosed projects from various indigenous energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal, en route to reaching at least 4,600 MW of renewable energy or 50 percent of its generation portfolio by the next decade.

AboitizPower is also exploring opportunities for nuclear via small and micro modular reactors and, together with Japan Energy for a New Era, studying the feasibility of co-firing hydrogen and ammonia in reducing carbon emissions during thermal power generation.