San Miguel by Filipino billionaire Ramon Ang steps up investment in solar energy, abandons coal-based electricity projects

San Miguel, controlled by billionaire Ramon Ang, is stepping up investments in solar farms and other renewable energy sources as it scraps coal projects from its expansion plans to help the Philippines reduce its carbon footprint.

“Our sustainability journey has taken an important step,” Ang, president of San Miguel, said in a Facebook post on Saturday. “Recently, we took the big step by removing new coal projects from our expansion plans. Instead, we are increasing our renewable energy capacities. It was not easy because our country still depends a lot on reliable and affordable traditional sources of energy. “

The Philippines is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, with 58.2 gigawatt hours of electricity produced in 2020 from coal-fired power plants, according to government data. That’s more than half of the total electricity production last year. In contrast, only 21% of the country’s electricity came from renewable energy sources.

San Miguel, which accounts for about a fifth of the country’s installed generation capacity, said in April it would invest $ 1 billion to build 31 new battery-powered energy storage facilities, with a nominal capacity of 1,000. megawatts, across the Philippines.

“We have reached a stage where, through strategic collaborations and the use of new technologies, we are convinced that we can move to a low carbon future, without compromising the growing energy needs of our economy,” said said Ang, 67.

Ang, who acquired most of his shares from the late mogul Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. in 2012, has transformed San Miguel from a brewer and food maker into one of the country’s most diverse conglomerates with interests in real estate, oil refining, power generation and infrastructure.

His most ambitious project is the construction of a mega international airport, which will cost 740 billion pesos (14.8 billion dollars) on a 2,500 hectare (25 million square meters) site in the province of Bulacan, in about 40 kilometers north of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. When completed, the airport will be able to accommodate up to 100 million passengers per year, roughly three times the capacity of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the main gateway to the country.

Ang was ranked 12th richest person in the Philippines with a net worth of $ 2.2 billion when the World Billionaires List was released in April.