Biggest Philippine Power Generator Will Drop New Coal Projects

By Matilda Colman -July 10, 2021

(Bloomberg) — San Miguel Corp., the Philippines’ largest power generator, will drop new coal projects from its expansion plans as it prepares for a transition to a low-carbon future.

“This has not been easy as our country still depends much on reliable and affordable traditional power sources,” the company’s President Ramon Ang said in a Facebook post on Saturday. Still, the nation’s biggest company is “confident” it can effect a transition through collaboration and new technologies, he said.

In April, San Miguel said it is spending more than $1 billion to simultaneously build 31 battery energy storage facilities with a total capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts. Through unit SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., it produces about a fifth of the Philippines’ power supply.

The Department of Energy in late 2020 declared a moratorium on endorsing new coal-fired power plants as the nation seeks to shift to a more flexible power supply. The Philippines is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75% by 2030.

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