Daily TribuneIt would be among the first such projects globally that will use carbon credits
ACEN, GenZero and Keppel have joined hands to catalyze the retirement of coal-fired plants in Southeast Asia. The landmark agreement was sealed in the presence of (from left) Cezar Consing, Ayala Corporation president and CEO and ACEN chairman; Eric Francia, ACEN president and CEO; Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corporation board director; Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga; Grace Fu, minister for Sustainability and the Environment of Singapore; Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corporation chairman; Jaime Alfonso Zobel de Ayala, ACEN board director; Frederick Teo, GenZero CEO and Cindy Lim CEO, Keppel’s Infrastructure Division.
Photograph courtesy of ACEN
Ayala-backed ACEN Corp. is exploring ways to push for the early retirement of the South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC) coal-fired power plant (CFPP) in Calaca, Batangas using transition credits (TCs).
In a stock exchange filing on Monday, the listed energy company said it signed a memorandum of understanding with investment firm GenZero and infrastructure company Keppel Ltd. to put the vision into reality.
“We appreciate the strong support of Keppel and GenZero for this pioneering initiative. The Philippines is at the forefront of energy transition initiatives, and this collaboration potentially unlocks further opportunities in the country. We also believe that this model can scale across the region, and even globally,” ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said.
It would be among the first such projects globally that will use carbon credits.
Coal retirement advances
Under the deal, 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.
According to ACEN, the project will explore the creation of comprehensive technological solutions and an economic model for the transition from coal to clean energy, focusing on replacing the 246 megawatt (MW) baseload of the CFPP with an Integrated Renewables and Energy Storage System (IRESS). The IRESS will comprise a solar plant and battery storage.
The creation and distribution of TCs will contribute to speeding up the decommissioning of the 246 MW SLTEC by a decade — bringing the target date to 2030.
Additionally, these TCs will support initiatives focused on transitioning away from coal-based energy sources.
Once completed, SLTEC will become one of the first converted CFPPs in the world to generate TCs.
The project will be undertaken in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation’s Coal to Clean Credit Initiative and the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Transition Credits Coalition and could fall under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement collaboration between the Philippines and Singapore.
CFPPs are the world’s largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions. Southeast Asia has the fourth-largest CFPP fleet globally, which is also among the youngest, with an average age of less than 15 years.
