More biz sourcing power from solar

MANILA – Commercial establishments sourcing their electricity requirement from renewable energy like solar power is increasing in the country.

Solar power provider Green Heat Corp. general manager Robert Martin said in a press briefing Friday the company has six to 12 megawatts of solar rooftop projects this year despite the pandemic.

“It will depend on the situation especially the limitation on travel, the limitation of working on various entities which require swab test (and) vaccination that limits us actually. But they are already in the pipeline and we are on that contemplative situation,” Martin said.

Green Heat director Glenn Tong added that most of the company’s clients are those with high power consumption during the daytime like malls, offices, manufacturing plants, and even residential buildings.

On Friday, Green Heat and SM City Bacoor launched the 1.3-MW roof-mounted solar power plant, utilizing the 6,230 square meters rooftop of SM City Bacoor.

This made the first SM mall in Cavite to have a solar power rooftop.

Green Heat has installed a total of 3,114 solar panels at SM City Bacoor.

Martin said the installed solar rooftop can generate up to 40 percent of SM City Bacoor’s power demand.

The mall has a daily power requirement of 1.6 MW.

“As of yesterday (May 27), the power plant produced about 6,500 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of clean energy and providing 700 kWh for the mall,” Martin said.

On average, SM City Bacoor is expected to save PHP10.3 million by sourcing its power demand from its own solar power plant, Martin said.

He added that the facility will also reduce over 8,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Energy Utilization Management Bureau Director Patrick Aquino told the Philippine News Agency that the Department of Energy (DOE) engages with the stakeholders to encourage them to tap renewable energy such as solar rooftop as the source of their electricity.

“We are working with our stakeholders to make the process of securing and access to these technologies more accessible to all,” Aquino said in a text message.

In February, the DOE issued a department circular (DC) requiring buildings with electrical loads of at least 112.5 kilovolt-amperes or with a total gross floor area of at least 10,000 square meters to source at least 1 percent of their annual power requirement from clean energy.

Martin said DOE’s order is timely and satisfies the Renewable Energy Act.

The DC will also lead to higher demand for solar installation in the near future, he added.

“This is a step in the right direction. Anything that the government does to support renewable energy is good,” Tong said.