Aboitiz Renewables partners with Singaporean firm

Aboitiz Renewables, Inc. (ARI), a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corporation, has cemented a joint venture deal with Singapore-headquartered Vena Energy (Vena Energy) for the planned 102-megawatt wind farm installation that will straddle Rizal and Laguna sites. In a statement to the media on Thursday, Aug. 3, Aboitiz Power noted that the wind project's phased ramp-up installation is slated for commercial operation in 2024 and 2025. Aboitiz has not specified the terms of the partnership deal, even the scale of capital that each party will be injecting in the development of the wind farm project. ARI President and Chief Operating Officer James Arnold Villaroman asserted their company is taking "decisive steps toward our long-term objective of growing our renewable energy capacity and striking a 50:50 balance between our renewable and thermal portfolios by 2030.” The Aboitiz group is currently advancing projects in solar, wind, geothermal and hydro, while also exploring possibilities for innovative clean energy technologies. Aboitiz Power President and CEO Emmanuel V. Rubio conveyed that the wind farm venture with Vena will help fortify the company’s investment showing in the renewable energy (RE) space. Rubio indicated “this underscores our aspiration to be a significant contributor to a well-managed and just energy transition that will fuel the economic progress of the country.” He added the company “will continue to serve the critical needs of the Philippine energy system,” while committing that the wind project is one development that they will deliver as targeted. The Aboitiz renewable energy subsidiary is the latest addition to the growing roster of Filipino partners for Vena Energy – the first major ones have been Alternergy Holdings Corp of former Energy Secretary Vincent Perez; and also Meralco Power Gen-Global Business Power Corp, the power generation arm of Manila Electric Company. The dominant power generation portfolio of the Aboitiz group still leans on coal technology, but the company aims to balance that with RE investments by the turn of the decade – although its development pace in the ‘clean energy space’  is currently not as aggressive yet compared to the other players in the energy sector. And as the government intensifies its call on the industry players to seriously track the ‘energy transition’ pathway, the companies clinging on to fossil fuel assets are generally perceived to be bereft of ‘moral compass’ because they are not giving premium to the welfare of the future generations; thus, many companies are now taking a shift on forward investments.