While not exactly turning its back on fossil fuel-based conventional technologies, Alcantara-led Alsons Power Group will be pursuing wider diversification on its power generation portfolio by focusing its next investment on utility scale solar farm installation that will have energy storage coupling.

At the 45th Annual General Membership Meeting of the Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (PHILRECA), Alsons Power Group’s CEO Antonio Miguel B. Alcantara announced that “we plan to launch our first large-scale solar project this year.”

He did not specify the capacity of the planned solar farm project, but previous pronouncements from the company had set the target at 150 megawatts that shall be done in phases.

Alcantara conveyed that “solar energy has the potential to significantly reduce the blended cost of electricity for consumers and lower overall portfolio costs.”

And to ensure that the facility will have higher availability, he indicated that “we are currently exploring optimal solar and battery storage solutions to address the growing demand for affordable and sustainable power.”

Apart from solar, hydro is the other preference of the company in the renewable energy (RE) development terrain – with its first 14.5-MW Siguil hydropower plant already advancing to commercial operations.

“Hydropower provides far-reaching benefits beyond electricity generation, such as infrastructure development, watershed management, and reforestation,” Alcantara emphasized.

However, he acknowledged that pursuing these projects still have persisting challenges, primarily “high costs and complex development process,” hence, he noted that such requires “careful balance between environmental stewardship and economic viability.”

Alcantara still noted though that “despite these challenges, we are committed to expanding our hydropower capacity.”

He further cited the high utilization factor of hydropower at 50-85%, which is deemed to be  “far more efficient than solar, which averages around 20%.”

But for hydropower development to thrive in the evolving power mix of the country, Alcantara sounded off that “a review of its pricing structure is necessary.”

On the company’s current generation capacity of 460MW, it is apparent that this is still dominated by coal-fired power fleets, but he stated that for their 237MW Sarangani plant, in particular, the company “continually explores new technologies and innovative practices to enhance its efficiency and reduce its environmental impact.”

Part of the Alsons group’s strategy on reinforcing the plant’s operational efficiency is on “optimizing fuel use to reduce operational costs,” with Alcantara specifying that their pivot “extends beyond short-term gains, prioritizing long-term sustainability.”

He added that “by enhancing the plant's performance and adopting greener practices, we not only lower power costs for our consumers but also contribute to a cleaner environment.”