Solar Philippines Secures 10GW of Contracts at Green Energy Auction

Solar Philippines bagged a significant chunk of capacity at the recent Green Energy Auction conducted by the Department of Energy (DOE). The renewable energy firm secured 70% of renewable energy capacity and 91% of solar capacity up for auction. This accounts for 1,380 megawatts (MW) out of 1,967-MW renewable capacity as well as 1,350 MW out of 1,490 MW of solar capacity.

“When we began talking about 10 GW, many were in disbelief, because the total installed solar capacity of the Philippines last year was just over 1.1 GW, but we hope that having contracts for the majority of 10 GW has now made this plausible,” elaborated Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste. “We were fortunate to have been at the right place at the right time developing these projects since 2016. Now we have contracted this capacity, we look forward to working with other companies and stakeholders to deliver these projects and help achieve our country’s targets for renewable energy.”

Solar Philippines plans to source the energy requirement from its subsidiary — Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp.’s (SPNEC) — 500-MW project. SPNEC is expecting an asset-for-share swap with its parent company. Hence, the remainder will, likewise, be sourced from projects under entities that would be owned by SPNEC.

These include the the Tarlac-2 400-MW Solar Farm, 800-MW Solar Farm in Quezon, 400-MW Solar Farm in Leyte, and 200-MW Solar Farm in General Santos. In total, these projects amount to 1.8GW of planned capacity. Furthermore, the DOE’s terms of reference highlight that bid capacities refer to net export and not plant gross capacities.

In addition, Solar Philippines also has its 3.5-GW solar, 4.5-GWh (gigawatt hours) battery Terra Solar project. This particular project will supply 850MW to the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco). Generally, the renewable energy firm already has over 6GW of total capacity. Solar Philippines has also noted it has a pending power supply offer that would maximize its contracted energy capacity of 9 terawatt-hours per year. It projects a majority of its 10GW of developments to launch operations between 2025 and 2026.

Source: Manila Times