ACEN Corp. has adopted a comprehensive plan reinforcing its commitment to phase out a 246-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Batangas with clean energy.
This was reiterated by Eric Francia, ACEN president and CEO at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates where he outlined priority reinforcement areas consistent with the transition to clean power.
Francia said the program is called the Just Energy Transition (JET) roadmap where the business commits to decommission coal-fired plants, repurpose assets, transition; re-skill and redeploy workers and sustain and cascade learnings.
The roadmap is developed in partnership with the Coal Asset Transition Accelerator (CATA), a global platform empowering coal asset owners, government financiers and local stakeholders adopt financial mechanisms that support accelerated transition from coal in a just and inclusive manner.
CATA core partners include Climate Smart Ventures (CSV), Carbon Trust, and Rocky Mountain Institute and is supported by the European Climate Foundation, Growald Climate Fund and the IKEA Foundation.
“While the planned coal to clean transition for SLTEC is scheduled more than a decade from now, it is never too early to develop a long-term roadmap. This will ensure that the transition is carried out in a just, thorough and proactive manner. We are thankful for the partnership with CATA and CSV on this pioneering JET initiative and more than happy to share learnings with the broader industry,” Francia said.
He said the roadmap builds on the momentum generated by an earlier energy transition mechanism considered as the world’s first and only market-based transaction to successfully program the early retirement of a coal-fired power plant.
ACEN committed to achieve net zero carbon emission by 2050 and 100 percent renewable power generation by 2025.
ACEN manages a 4,400-MW portfolio of renewables with 38 percent or 1,700 MW in operation. Its operating capacity is seen growing by 1,000 MW in the next few months. It targets to own 20,000 MW worth of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
The company currently has projects in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, India, Indonesia as well as in the United States and Taiwan.
