Full feasibility study on accelerating PHL’s coal exit done by Q2 2024 — ADB

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is working on completing a feasibility study to accelerate the retirement of coal plants in the Philippines under the bank’s Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM) program.

In a media briefing at the sidelines of the Asia Clean Energy Forum in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, ADB principal energy specialist David Elzinga said the multilateral lender concluded its pre-feasibility study for the ETM in the Philippines “in fall 2021.”

Elzinga said the ADB is currently working on completing the full feasibility study by “the second quarter next year.”

The ETM facility, launched in Glasgow, United Kingdom in November 2021 during the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), is a financing mechanism aimed at retiring existing coal-fired power plants on an accelerated schedule and replace them with clean power capacity. 

The mechanism will comprise two multibillion-dollar funds: one devoted to early retirement or repurposing of coal-fired power plants on an accelerated timeline, and the other focused on new clean energy investments in generation, storage, and grid upgrades.

According to the latest ETM update posted on the ADB’s website, the bank is also working with the Philippine government to prepare an investment plan under the Climate Investment Funds Accelerating Coal Transition (CIF-ACT) program.

Pressed for details, Elzinga said the ADB is targeting to submit the Philippines’ investment plan to the CIF Trust Fund Committee by November this year.

The CIF, he said, is managed by the World Bank but is available to all development institutions supporting various developing member countries.

“We’re gonna look, try to find a number of energy transition projects that both ADB and the World Bank can support in accelerating the shift from coal to clean energy,” Elzinga said, noting that “it’s at early discussions at this stage.” — LA, GMA Integrated News