SPNEC secures 4,000 hectares of land for solar farm development

MANILA  -Leandro Leviste’s SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) has secured more than 4,000 hectares of land in Luzon that it plans to convert for industrial use, specifically for the development of what it expects to be the world’s largest solar farm with at least 3.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Wednesday, SPNEC said these pieces of land were located mostly in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Tarlac and Batangas.

Of the more than 4,000 ha, about 3,000 ha were secured through deeds of sale, while the rest were acquired through contracts to lease.

“Over 2,000 hectares have already been approved for conversion to industrial use,” SPNEC said in its disclosure.

Earlier this year, Leviste told reporters that SPNEC’s planned 3.5-GW solar farm would span Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, and that it needed to be operational by 2026 as part of the company’s goal to expand its portfolio capacity to 10 GW.

The company has been growing its assets as part of its consolidation of parent company Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc.’s (SP) solar plants.

In May, SPNEC said it had signed a deed of absolute sale to acquire SP’s shares in Solar Philippines Tarlac Corp. and Solar Philippines Rooftop Corp., which own solar plants with a combined capacity of 100 megawatts (MW).

SPNEC’s portfolio currently includes over 400 MW of projects that are either already operational or still under construction.

“We thank all who have helped us grow SPNEC’s assets, from its initial 352 hectares to over 4,000 hectares, and from a single project to a portfolio of projects operating, under construction and under development. It is time for us to build upon what we have so far, and work on turning these hectares into megawatts,” Leviste said.

Leviste, who founded SPNEC in 2013, announced in January the company’s plans to secure land in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan after securing off-take agreements for its solar projects.

READ: SPNEC to break ground on ‘world’s largest solar farm’ this year

READ: SPNEC targets to complete land conversion this year

Once the 3.5-GW solar farm is operational, it will be the largest of its kind in the Philippines, and even larger than the total grid-connected solar projects in the country at over 1.5 GW as of June 2023.

SPNEC received P2.8 billion in March out of the stock rights offer it issued, and this would be used to partially fund the Nueva Ecija-Bulacan project.

READ: Solar Philippines raises P2.8B via stock rights offering

Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Investments Corp. also recently invested P2 billion in SPNEC to partially fund the land acquisition.

SPNEC earlier announced that it had intended to spend $7 billion (P400 billion) to achieve its 10-GW expansion plan based on the industry standard cost of $700,000 per MW.