San Miguel investing more in clean coal technology

MANILA, Philippines - Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is shunning coal-fired power plants and will instead continue to invest in “clean coal” technology, its top official said yesterday.

 “We will continue to invest in clean coal. As long as it’s clean technology, we are investing in that,” SMC president and COO Ramon Ang said yesterday.

He said that investing in a clean coal fired power plant is more expensive at $2 million per megawatt.

The so-called clean coal uses the circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology that has the ability to achieve lower emission of pollutants.

By using this technology, up to 95 percent of pollutants will be absorbed before being emitted to the atmosphere.

As of the end of 2015, SMC’s power subsidiary SMC Global Power controls 2,903 megawatts of combined contracted capacity. It currently accounts for 17 percent of the power supply of the national grid and a significant 22 percent  share of the Luzon grid.

SMC Global Power’s principal activity is the sale of power generated by power plants in the Philippines that are owned and operated by third party independent power producers. It entered the industry in 2009 through the acquisition of independent power producer rights in privatization auctions conducted by the government.

The Lopez Group has taken a strong stance against the use of coal in the country.

“I’m certain that without having to look to fear, this country already has energy alternatives that do not mortgage the future of our children and the future of our planet,” First Philippine Holdings chairman Federico Lopez said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Monday.

He said the Lopez Group will set an example and will not pioneer any coal-fired power plant.

“Today, let me state unequivocally and for the record that FPH and its subsidiaries will not build, develop or invest in any coal-fired power plant,” he said.

He expressed hopes that regulators and other energy players will realise the urgency of moving toward a decarbonised economy.

At present, the Philippines has 17 operating coal plants and a additional 29 new coal plants will be only by 2020, based on the approvals issued by the Department of Energy.