By Myrna M. Velasco – May 14, 2021, 5:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Yuchengco-led firm PetroGreen Energy Corporation (PGEC) has completed its pioneering solar rooftop installation that primarily targets commercial and industrial (C&I) end-users – and that initial venture is for its affiliate 12-storey Enrique T. Yuchengco (ETY) office building in Binondo, Manila.
Project developer PGEC serves as the renewable energy holding firm of PetroEnergy Resources Corporation, an energy investment arm of the Yuchengco conglomerate that is listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange; while Landev Corporation which is the property management firm for the ETY building is also a company under Yuchengco group.
For that solar rooftop venture, PGEC Assistant Vice President for Power Plant Operations Paul Elmer Morala emphasized that they energized 140.8 kilowatts-peak (kWp) of solar installation.
Fundamentally, the facility has 352 units of 405-watt solar panels and two units of 60-kWac of string inverter installed in 900 square meters of rooptop space.
According to the Yuchengco firm, the project “was safely completed in less than 15 weeks this year,” even as the Covid-19 pandemic had been at its height of barreling key areas of the country, which included Metro Manila.
It stressed that the completed installation could serve as a “showcase venture” to other targeted C&I customers intending to have tailor-fitted solar rooftop solutions in meeting their energy needs.
Morala noted the project “takes advantage of synergies with PGEC’s utility-scale solar power ventures and we intend to provide other commercial and industrial clients with the same competitive service as we gave to ETY.”
For his part, Landev Corporation President and General Manager Mario Paguio stated that in its decision to opt for solar rooftop solution, the company “initiated cost effective environmental and sustainable technologies such as solar power.”
He qualified that their partnership with affiliate firm PGEC “ensured that the project was successfully completed as scheduled from design to installation and was compliant to technical specifications and quality standards.”
For that Binondo facility, it was further pointed out that “the system is capable of generating about 190 megawatt-hour of electricity annually, or approximately 20-percent of the building’s daily power consumption,” and that in turn could yield substantial cost savings to the building owner.
The other upside of that project is the potential reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to be generated – and that is estimated to reach 84.78 metric tons of CO2 avoidance on a yearly basis.