Solar PHL names new chief executive

By Lenie Lectura – November 24, 2020
from Business Mirror

Solar Philippines announced Tuesday the appointment of its new chief executive officer (CEO) and its plans to pursue a maiden offering.

Marty Crotty, a familiar name in the power industry here and abroad, is the new CEO of Solar Philippines. He replaced Leandro Leviste, who remains the company’s sole shareholder.

Marty Crotty served as president of AES Asia, where he managed power plants in Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, including the Masinloc coal plant, which was acquired by San Miguel Corp. with an enterprise value of $2.4 billion in 2018.

The announcement comes after a month since the company said it was eyeing to forge partnerships with several local and foreign firms to aid the company’s solar power business.

“Power industry veteran Marty Crotty is the new Chief Executive Officer of Solar Philippines, a month after signaling a strategic direction to bring onboard partners and professionals to prepare for a public listing,” the company said in a statement.

It did not say when it plans to conduct an initial public offering (IPO), adding that further disclosures on its IPO plans would be announced at the appropriate time.

The company has grown with over 2,000 employees and more than 10 GW in development in the Philippines and internationally.

“Given the amazing progress Solar Philippines has made on its pipeline of development assets, I’m extremely grateful to have the opportunity to lead the team with a laser focus on achieving Leandro’s vision to accelerate the transition to renewable energy,” Crotty said.

“We’re now finding more and more partners and colleagues who can see the time for solar in the Philippines is now. With our new partners and colleagues, we are more optimistic than ever that we can deliver the largest portfolio of renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia,” Leviste said.

Solar Philippines has been increasingly focused on forging partnerships in recent years.

In December 2018, it partnered with Korea Electric Power Corp. for its 63 megawatt (MW) Solar Farm in Batangas. This is KEPCO’s first renewable energy project in Southeast Asia.

In June 2020, Solar Philippines inked a partnership with the Razon Group’s Prime Infra to develop a pipeline of projects, representing the largest solar joint venture established in the country. This includes completing the Tarlac 200 MW Solar Farm, the country’s largest solar project to date.

According to the Department of Energy website, Solar Philippines is developing projects with a total capacity of over 10 gigawatts in over a dozen provinces.

“While we once focused on competing with others in the power industry, we are now collaborating with several local and foreign partners, harnessing their strengths across all our projects to take solar in the Philippines to the next level,” Leviste earlier said.

Leviste is optimistic with these changes set to happen soon. “We are more optimistic than ever that we and our partners can deliver a portfolio of projects that will make the Philippines a leader in the global energy transition.”