Solar Philippines unit to build 225-MW project in Nueva Ecija

By Angelica Y. Yang – June 27, 2021 | 8:04 pm
from Business World

A UNIT of Solar Philippines is preparing to build a 225 megawatt (MW) solar facility in Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija, which the parent firm described as the “largest of its kind” in the country to date.

In a statement Sunday, Solar Philippines said its wholly-owned unit Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp., is undertaking the project, which is expected to provide 5,500 jobs during construction and operations.

“This is representative of the rest of our pipeline of projects, which were not viable historically, but are viable today with the lower cost of solar and storage,” Solar Philippines Founder Leandro L. Leviste said.

“When we began developing this project in 2016, others didn’t believe that large-scale solar would be viable. Because we made this bet then, we now have projects ready to meet the country’s gap in power supply,” he added.

Solar Philippines said it is keeping its off-take options open for the project, adding that the 225-MW facility can sell its output to the wholesale electricity spot market when demand is highest.

It said the project will augment the Luzon grid’s reserves and prevent rotating outages which hit portions of the island earlier this month after a series of red and yellow alerts.

The company, which was founded in 2013, signaled its direction last year to embark on a series of deals with power companies to complete its pipeline of over 10 gigawatts (GW).

In December, Solar Philippines announced plans to build over 1 GW of projects in Batangas, Cavite, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac in 2021.