Roxas unit’s solar farm gets DOE nod

The Department of Energy (DOE) has given a unit of publicly listed firm Roxas & Co. Inc. (RCI) the green light to build a 50 megawatt (MW) solar power plant in Nasugbu, Batangas province.

The DOE granted a renewable energy (RE) service contract to RCI subsidiary Roxas Green Energy Corp. as part of efforts to promote the exploration and development of “green energy” technology throughout the Philippines.

RCI said its subsidiary intends to operate the facility by the first quarter of 2016.

Finnish engineering and consulting company Poyry Energy Inc. has already been tapped for the engineering, design, procurement and construction management of the power plant.

The 50-MW solar power project will be developed within a 2,000-hectare area.

RCI earlier said the first phase of the project will have a capacity of 30 MW and is estimated to cost P1.7 billion.

A signing ceremony led by Assistant Energy Secretary Jose Raymund A. Acol and Armando B. Escobar, who is RCI’s chief finance officer and executive vice president and Roxas Green Energy’s treasurer and director, formalized the renewable energy service contract deal.

Roxas Green Energy Corp. is a 100 percent owned subsidiary of RCI.

Amid growing competition due to accelerated globalization, the Roxas group has diversified outside its sugar milling operations.

RCI chair Pedro E. Roxas has said the company is into other businesses such as coconut processing (in partnership with Sigma Coco Xynergies), real estate (via Roxaco Land Corp.), and energy. Besides Roxas Green Energy, the firm also earlier acquired pioneering solar power developer, San Carlos Bioenergy, Inc.

Through San Carlos Bionergy, RHI recently took control of the first sugarcane-based, integrated bioethanol distillery and co-generation power project in Southeast Asia.

The DOE the other day said RE has become the fastest growing sub-sector in the energy sector. Solar power development was especially strong, outshining other technologies in terms of project roll-outs and contract offtakers.

The Philippines’ RE capacity is seen to reach 15,304 MW by 2030.