Korea, PH to launch P2B solar facility

MANILA, Philippines—Filipino-Korean energy developer Next Generation Power Technology Corp. (NGPT) will start operating by early 2015 its P2-billion, 20-megawatt solar energy project in Bataan.

According to NGPT, the construction of the solar power plant at a 37.5-hectare tract of land within the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB) in Mariveles town will begin in the next three months.

Commercial operations will start in the first quarter of 2015, NGPT said. The project will generate 18 jobs.

The power that will be generated by this solar facility will go to the grid.

This renewable energy project will enjoy fiscal incentives from the Authority of Freeport Area of Bataan (Afab).

Under RA 97281, which converted the former Bataan Economic Zone (BEZ) into FAB, locators may enjoy up to eight years of income tax holiday (ITH) as well as exemption from a number of duties, taxes and fees.

NGPT executives as well as officials of AFAB, the provincial government of Bataan and the Department of Energy (DOE) recently signed the predevelopment service contract for the project.

When NGPT’s investment was announced in January this year, AFAB chair Deogracias G.P. Custodio said in a statement the solar power plant was “also expected to become an ecotourism attraction in the freeport.”

During the first quarter of this year, AFAB attracted P849.1 million worth of investment commitments, up 1,302 percent from P60.5 million in the first three months of last year.