Solar Philippines to announce partnership for biggest solar farm in Luzon

MANILA, Philippines - Solar Philippines, one of the largest developers of rooftop solar power plants in Southeast Asia, is teaming up with a publicly listed company to put up the biggest solar farm in Luzon.

Solar Philippines founder and president Leandro Leviste said the company is tying up with a listed firm to provide financial muscle to build a 40-megawatt (MW) solar farm in Calatagan, Batangas.

“We will announce a partnership with a local publicly listed company in the next two weeks,” Leviste said.

Under the agreement, Leviste said Solar Philippines and its partner would each have a 50-percent stake in the solar project.

With the average investment for solar plants currently placed at $2-million per MW, Solar Philippines and its partner will need to spend about $80 million for its planned solar farm.

Leviste said Solar Philippines to date has over 10 service contracts with the Department of Energy.

He said the company has seven-MW of solar energy under its portfolio at present, most of which are rooftop developments.

Its 40-MW solar project is the company’s first venture outside solar rooftop developments.

“There’s a 500 MW allocation for the FIT (feed-in-tariff) and there’s a lot of competition to get it. Our hope is to get at least 100 MW of that,” Leviste said.

“Our advantage is we’re converting unutilized rooftop space and making them our plants to supply the grid. We’re not putting them in countryside where there is a lot of permitting processes involved,” he added.

Solar firms have been lobbying for the DOE to increase the installation targets for solar power to 500 MW from the current 50 MW.

Developers who can make it within the allocation will enjoy FIT incentives from the government. Under the FIT scheme, companies are entitled to a rate of P9.68 per kwh for solar power.