The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to retire and reutilise 5,000 MW of coal capacity in the medium term in the Philippines in an attempt to recalibrate the country’s total power mix. The criteria for retirement include factors like the technical life of the plants and efficiency of the facility in terms of intermittency.
The DOE will raise funds for the early retirement of these plants from Energy Transition Mechanisms (ETM) and the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The ETM can be used as concessional or commercial funding to t replace the existing fossil fuel-based generating facilities with renewable energy based alternatives.
However, no concrete timeline has been announced for the plan as of yet.
DOE is also exploring other clean fuel alternatives like ammonia co-firing for the coal plants and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
