Solar Philippines sets 10,000 hectares for energy zone

Solar Philippines has set at least 10,000 hectares for massive scale development of solar farm projects in the country, primarily in the biggest power grid of Luzon.

The proposed solar energy zones (SEZ), according to the company, are now undergoing finalization of agreements with relevant parties – and these sites are close to existing solar projects in Batangas, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija.

In a statement to the media, Solar Philippines founder Leandro L. Leviste indicated a shift in strategy in the company’s portfolio growth plans.

“Our aim is no longer to compete with the country’s power companies, but to enable them to build projects,” Leviste said.

With that investment trajectory, the millennial-businessman asserted that Solar Philippines could become instrumental in ensuring “that solar becomes the largest source of new energy in the Philippines.”

In the coming months, he stated, Solar Philippines will be disclosing the various projects of renewable energy-developer firms “to be constructed (in the SEZs) over the next five years.” Leviste hinted that the capacity of these projects will be “multiple times greater than the country’s total solar capacity to date.”

He further conveyed that when it comes to solar plant installations, “the problem we need to solve is that, despite there now being significant demand for new solar plants, there is scarcity of sites.”

Taking cue from that predicament of the project sponsors, he emphasized that “our SEZs will make it easy for any of these power companies that decide to build solar to locate in these zones and start construction that same year.”

According to the company, its proposed SEZs are inspired by the solar parks in India. It is a tested investment model that enabled developers to “co-locate solar projects in large shovel-ready sites with common facilities that benefit from economies of scale.”

On taking this development terrain, Leviste explained that “this would not be possible had we not begun the development of these sites six years ago.”

Back then, he narrated “others did not believe that large-scale solar would be viable…now, the power industry is convinced that it is. We are making available these sites to help others enter the market.”

Article and Photo originally posted by Manila Bulletin last October 4, 2021 5:38pm and written by Myrna M. Velasco.