Singapore firm picks Apeco for a 25-MW solar farm

MANILA, Philippines — The Aurora Pacific Economic Zone (Apeco)  said it was partnering with a Singapore-based firm to put up a renewable energy facility inside its 13,000-hectare enclave in the central Luzon province.

The government-owned and controlled corporation said that Pacific Impact Development Pte. Ltd. (Pacific Impact) has chosen their economic zone as a project site, with plans to put up a 25-megawatt (MW) solar farm.

“The entry of Pacific Impact into Apeco is a vote of confidence not only in Apeco’s current business development direction but, more importantly, in the area of Casiguran, Aurora,” Apeco President and CEO Gil G. Taway IV said in a statement.

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Pacific Impact is leaning toward building a solar photovoltaic facility at the Apeco grounds, but the company is also exploring prospects for a wind farm.

The planned facility is expected to take up 25 hectares inside the economic hub, with a projected investment of $25 million for the first phase of the project.

“As Pacific Impact expands its presence into the northeast region of the Philippines, we recognize the immense potential for renewable energy development in the area,” Darwin Deato, the company’s chief in the Philippines, said in a statement.

In a follow-up interview with the Inquirer, Deato said they intend to connect the planned solar farm to the national grid but are also open to supplying energy to the locator companies inside the ecozone.

He added that they expect the project to create about 150 jobs during the construction phase, and about  50 long-term jobs for the operation and maintenance of the facility.

The firm is also involved in a 100-MW facility in Albay. INQ