Batangas to have sufficient power supply with future 50-MW solar farm

MANILA — Batangas will have sufficient power supply in the near future, with Solar Philippines’ groundbreaking ceremony of a 50-Megawatt (MW) solar farm in Calatagan Tuesday.

“Once completed this year, it shall generate enough energy to power the majority of the entire province of Batangas,” Solar Phils said in a statement.

The estimated project cost amounts to US$ 100 million, to be financed through 75 percent bank debt and 25 percent equity, with equity expected to be split at 50-50 with another group.

The renewable energy (RE) developer targets to finish the 50-MW project by third quarter this year, to avail of the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT), which prioritizes eligible RE projects to run.

Solar Philippines President Leandro Leviste highlighted the company has an edge in meeting their deadline due to its all around involvement in the project.

“Taking the same approach as for our rooftop projects, we’ve integrated development, financing, and construction all-in-one, allowing us to move faster in meeting the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) solar targets for 2015,” he said.

To date, the 50-MW solar panels also have the biggest installed capacity in the Luzon grid, followed by Cavite Economic Zone (CEZ) solar rooftop power project with 40 MW.

However, the power stored by the solar panels is still dependent on the availability of sunshine. Thus, it may or may not hit its installed 50 MW capacity.

The project consists of 150,000 solar panels, which could offset 1 million tons of carbon dioxide in three decades, equivalent to planting over five million trees. It will stand on 75 hectares of land acquired by the company.

Solar Phils also targets to install more than 200 MW of capacity this year, through a dozen awarded renewable energy service contracts by the DOE.

It bared having talks with landowners to acquire lands in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Solar Philippines is a developer of rooftop power plants, integrating financing, design and installation.