By Prince Golez
A Japanese power generation company has assured the Philippine government of a steady supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help the country’s economic growth.
JERA Co. Inc. president Satoshi Onoda told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that his company has been working with the Aboitiz group to support the growing Philippine economy.
“In order to support the Philippines… which the economy is growing at a rapid pace, in order to secure a stable supply, we are working with Aboitiz and Sabin-san’s team on many fronts,” said Satoshi.
“I may have mentioned this back in June as well, however we are procuring more than 30 million tons of LNG per year. Therefore, we will be able to contribute to the Philippines in the supply of LNG as transition fuel,” according to him.
He also noted that JERA, the largest power generation company in Japan, and the Aboitiz group have been training their engineers for the development of technologies that will benefit both parties.
“And as I have mentioned before, we will be working on co-firing ammonia technology as well. Therefore we would like to be able to provide this technology as well in a timely manner. We would like to utilize the various technologies in order to contribute to the economic growth as well as decarbonization in the Philippines,” Satoshi furthered.
For his part, Marcos Jr. said it is imperative to be able to explore such options and be prepared for future developments, particularly when it comes to clean renewable energy sources.
“I do not need to illustrate or to explain the critical situation around the world when it comes to fuel, fuel supply, supply chain problems. All of these are requiring a great deal of thought for the planning for the Philippine side so as to be able to ensure that our forecasted — and aspirations for development are well supported by an adequate power supply,” according to the chief executive.
“And we, like most countries, are very much in the middle of the process of moving from the traditional to the renewables. Now the traditional renewables we all know… solar, wind. Now, there are hydroelectric, now there are some other new technologies coming in,” he added.
Marcos Jr. said the Philippines currently needs the development of new fuels to meet the country’s power supply requirement.
“I suppose now they really have been discussing the interim – what we are doing in the interim until renewables can take the whole – can be able to provide rather the entire demand of the Philippines and beyond,” the President also said.
He also expressed hope that the collaboration between JERA and the Aboitiz power firms would result in the transfer of technology in which the Philippine government could actively participate.
“So the most important part as Mr. Aboitiz has pointed out is… of course the investment is important, but the transfer of technology is also extremely important and that will give the Philippines a self-sufficiency, which we have been missing,” Marcos Jr. said, noting the switch from ammonia to green hydrogen.
