New unit of Solar PHL aims to expand local solar farms

Solar Energy Zones Inc. (SEZ), a new subsidiary of Solar Philippines, wants to host the solar power projects of other power firms.

This move is meant to address the shortage of solar sites so the country’s largest power companies can soon have their own large-scale solar projects.

“Our aim is no longer to compete with the country’s power companies, but to enable them to build projects, to ensure that solar soon becomes the largest source of new energy in the Philippines,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste.

SEZ, which is independent from Solar Philippines’s power plant business, is currently finalizing agreements for 10,000 hectares, mostly near its existing projects in Batangas, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija.

“Despite the significant demand for new solar plants, there is a scarcity of sites. Our SEZ’s will make it easy for any of these power companies that decide to build solar to locate in these zones and start construction that same year,” Leviste noted.

The SEZ setup is similar to the solar parks of India, where companies co-locate solar projects in large shovel-ready sites with common facilities that benefit from economies of scale.

“This would not be possible had we not begun the development of these sites six years ago, when others did not believe that large-scale solar would be viable. Now the power industry is convinced that it is, we are making available these sites to help others enter the market,” Leviste said.

Solar Philippines will be announcing over the coming months several projects of other power companies to be constructed in its zones over the next five years. He said the capacity of these will be multiple times greater than the country’s total solar capacity to date, making solar a major share of the country’s energy mix.

Solar Philippines had said it would build over one gigawatt of projects in Batangas, Cavite, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.

Last June, it announced a plan to build a 225-megawatt solar facility in Nueva Ecija. Leviste said the facility is going to be the largest of its kind in the country.