Philippines keeps adding coal-fired power capacity

The Philippines' Department of Energy (DOE) expects an additional 2.255GW of coal-fired power generation capacity to come on line by 2028, meaning the country will still be reliant on coal despite its decarbonisation plans.

The latest list of committed power projects published by the DOE show the Luzon grid's coal-fired capacity will increase by 1.85GW. Of this, 450MW will come from phase one of the Mariveles power plant in Bataan where three 150MW units will come on line this year. This will be followed by the Masinloc power plant expansion in Zambales adding 700MW by 2026. Phase two of the Mariveles power plant will add another 700MW by 2028.

The Visayas grid will increase its coal-fired capacity by 135MW with the start of commercial operations of the second unit of the Palm Concepcion power plant in Cebu by June 2026. Mindanao grid's coal-fired capacity will increase by 270MW with the start of commercial operations of the Misamis power plant in Misamis Oriental by 2027.

The Philippines is heavily reliant on coal for its energy security, the DOE said, with coal accounting for over 60pc of total power generation. A significant portion of the country's coal-fired power plants are also relatively new, with more than 6.3GW of coal-fired power plants operational for 10 years or less. They still have around 30 years of economic life remaining, making them extremely difficult to retire early because of the high financial costs required to decommission them, the DOE said.

There is also 3.4GW of coal-fired power plants between 10-30 years old. The oldest of these plants has 10 years of economic life left, making them a good candidate for early retirement, the DOE said. But this will be dependent on the sentiment of the private-sector power sector towards the financial feasibility of early decommissioning, it added.

The Philippines aims to accelerate the retirement of up to 900MW of existing coal-fired generation capacity by 2027. The country has 12.43GW of installed coal-fired capacity, accounting for 44pc of the country's total of 28.26GW.

By Antonio delos Reyes