Alluding to climate change risks as key differentiating factor, the Lopez group laid down plans that future investments in the electric power industry will revolve only around clean energy technologies.

“Geothermal power, hydro, solar power, wind power – these are the spaces that we intend to exploit,” Oscar M. Lopez, patriarch of the Lopez group noted when he relinquished his post as chairman and chief executive officer of First Philippine Holdings Corporation (FPHC) to his son, Federico R. Lopez, recently.

He acknowledged though that their choice of solutions for the fresh wave of power investments “will be more difficult and perhaps more expensive.”

Albeit he qualified that the cost factor is nothing compared to the damaging effect on the environment that other fuel technologies may wrought if they are to provide for the country’s future energy needs.

“We will have to be innovative and imaginative in the way we search for solutions,” Lopez added.

In an area where other industry competitors have already taken steps ahead, the Lopez group is also making its mark in the “rebranding game”, claiming its spot in the genre of “clean power” providers in the domestic industry.

The Lopez patriarch recognized the country’s near-term need for “adequate and economically-priced power”, but with the industry’s ongoing restructuring and the world’s drive for low-carbon energy path, the challenges ahead will be different and “it is much more difficult and complex.”

For prospective project developers, Lopez noted that many may cling to that tendency of building power plants utilizing cheaper fuel, like heavy fuel oil and coal.

Yet he noted that “unfortunately, these are also the technologies most damaging to the environment.”

Given the pressing challenges confronting the global energy sector today, “it requires the exercise of conscience,” Lopez averred, qualifying further that “this is something the business sector is not often known for.”

He thus added “it is our responsibility, not only to do our part to provide the cheap and reliable power needed by the country, but to do so in a way that will not further damage our environment. This view is reflected in the choice of projects that we have undertaken and the technologies we are investing in.”