AboitizPower hopes to achieve 50 percent less carbon emission under its agreement with Japan’s largest energy firm, JERA.
Using JERA’s technology and expertise, AboitizPower will develop infrastructures to produce energy using hydrogen and ammonia as renewable fuels, which do not emit carbon dioxide and contribute to global warming.
“Ammonia offers a compelling solution for decarbonizing the power sector, and by looking into it, we are taking a step towards developing the infrastructure needed to support the ammonia and hydrogen value chains,” JERA president Satoshi Onoda said in the signing of a memorandum of understanding with AboitizPower chairperson Sabin Aboitiz.
“If the technology is applied to existing coal-fired power plants, where appropriate, carbon dioxide emissions may be reduced by up to 50 percent,” AboitizPower said in its press statement released Friday.
With a 27-percent stake in AboitizPower, JERA will help expand its renewable energy capacity by 3,700 megawatts by 2030.
Ultimately, AboitizPower said the green project would help boost the Philippine economy from low-cost power generation, but wide energy distribution and services for constructing import terminals, storage facilities and power station retrofits.
“Its impact will be felt beyond energy stability and emission reduction, as the collaboration brings about the potential of developing the Philippines as a hub and leader in the region for greener fuels,” AboitizPower said.
“We are going to share the Realization of a Low-Carbon Society as a Global Leader Laying the Foundation for the Future of Energy,” Onoda said.
In 2019, the Philippines ranked eighth, a relatively low carbon-dioxide emitter compared to nine other Asian countries studied by the International Institute for Management Development. They were India, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and Bangladesh.
On a global scale, Japan was the fifth biggest emitter after China, the United States, India, and Russia, according to the International Energy Agency Global Carbon Atlas.
The signing of the MoU was also attended by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Special Assistant to the President Antonio Lagdameo Jr., Senator Mark Villar, House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senior Deputy Speaker and former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.