Basic Energy to set up 5-MW solar facility

MANILA  -Basic Energy Corp. (BEC) plans to put up a 5-megawatt (MW) solar facility to help power up to 6,500 electric buses the company seeks to deploy across the country as part of its e-transport program.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Tuesday, BEC said it eyed partnering with distribution utilities to deploy the solar power plant with a battery energy storage system to provide electricity for e-charging stations in every province.

“Recognizing the ‘chicken-and-egg’ dilemma in pursuing the goal of increasing the population of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country without a wide network of e-charging stations, BEC saw it apt to approach the matter holistically by addressing both supply and demand for clean energy,” it said.

Under BEC’s Green Energy E-transport Program it had proposed to the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, the company is seeking the government’s support in securing a minimum of 82 franchises—one for each province in the country—to deploy class 2 e-buses within a five-year period.

E-buses deployment

BEC said it planned on deploying 10 to 80 e-buses in every province in collaboration with local government units and transport operators.

To effectively meet demand as the number of EVs in the country increases, the company also proposed the establishment of an e-hub with charging facilities for e-buses and e-jeeps.

BEC did not disclose other details, adding only that the e-buses would be sold to transport cooperatives or operators.

As of this year, the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (Evap) said there were more than 16,000 EV units in the country.

In the first quarter of 2023 alone, EV sales grew to 2,356 units, or nearly six times than what was recorded in the same period last year, according to Evap.