AsianOil: Manila seems bent on renewables, but LNG still has a role to play

In recent months, authorities and private sector renewables investors across the Philippines have been putting pressure on the central government in Manila to focus on pushing through legislation to support increased installations of wind and solar farms throughout the nation’s 7,600 islands.

And in large part the nation’s Department of Energy (DoE) has listened.

However, despite all the attention being focused on new standalone solar and floating plants around the capital by the national media, LNG remains at the core of government energy policy – for now.

Domestically the Philippines is home to just two LNG projects, with the first LNG cargo the nation has ever received arriving to much aplomb in April at the Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific (AG&P) terminal in Batangas. This LNG was used to power the nearby 1.2-GW Ilijan power plant just over 100 km south of Manila.

According to the AG&P chairman Joseph Sigelman, speaking to BusinessMirror, “AG&P’s PHLNG is a landmark development that will serve to kick-start the Philippines LNG importation and regasification ability, delivering gas to secure the country’s current and future energy demand.”

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