Solar PH to build more plants sans gov’t stimulus

Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. (Solar PH) is set to build three solar farms in Luzon and Mindanao to further promote renewable energy use.

CEO Leandro L. Leviste said the company would roll out a total of 228 megawatts (MW), which could still be expanded, beginning this year up to 2017. The first would be a 135-MW solar farm in Tarlac province, followed by an 18-MW facility in Cagayan de Oro and a

75-MW project in Batangas.

All three would not even be relying on the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program, which provides guaranteed returns for qualified investors seeking to recover costs for the still expensive solar energy production. “Those three solar farms will be built outside the FIT system and we envision the one in Tarlac to become the largest solar farm to run without FIT incentives. It would have a capacity of 135 MW in the initial phase, with room for expansion,” Leviste said.

The solar farms were seen to use panels manufactured by the factory that Solar PH would be building in Tanauan, Batangas, as part of efforts to make the solar power output more competitively priced.

“Our advocacy is to make solar power more accessible and affordable to consumers and edge out higher priced, dirty, 20th-century energy sources like oil, gas and coal. By showcasing the viability of solar power production without FIT, we can show that solar power is, right now, already cheaper than the alternatives,” Leviste said.

Solar PH has started procuring manufacturing equipment for its solar panel factory and would start setting up in the third quarter of 2016.

Leviste said the facility was expected to be one of the world’s largest solar panel factories and would help make the Philippines a global hub for solar power. The facility may start operating by the end of 2016.