New group to develop 300-megawatt solar capacity in next three years

MANILA, Philippines - A newly formed group of solar power developers in the country expects an additional 300 megawatts (MW) of solar power capacity to be built over the next three years.

According to the Philippine Solar Power Alliance (PSPA), the aggressive installation of solar plants in the country would be driven after the feed-in tariff for renewable energy is released by the government.

PSPA convenor Tetchi Capellan said “owing to the high sun irradiation found in a tropical country like the Philippines, the targeted installation throughout the country in the next three years is projected at about 300 MW.”

She said these new solar plants, as well as the presence of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer in Laguna, will make the Philippines a solar hub in Southeast Asia.”

PSPA is bullish on solar energy as production of solar panels is the fastest rising technology in the global scene, with a 48 percent annual growth, while cost of plant installation dropping significantly in the last eight years. In Europe, it is predicted that before 2020, solar power cost will be the same with grid prices.

Based on a study prepared by the PSPA, “the declining cost of solar panels, brought about by the introduction of feed-in tariff in European countries, has pushed the price of solar panels downward.”

“As soon as the same incentive is offered to solar energy producers in the Philippines, installations of solar power plants will soar from one MW to 50 MW in less than a year,” it said.

Feed-in tariff, or FIT, is a guaranteed fixed payment given to renewable energy providers as incentives to reduce the country’s dependence on dirty and imported fossil fuel.

The concept originated from EU-member countries 10 years ago. It was aggressively used by European Parliament to increase the share of renewable energy to the total energy portfolio of the European electricity market.

In the Philippines, a FIT system is likewise being introduced by the renewable energy law to encourage private sector participation in the development of solar power. Solar energy producers have submitted to the National Government a number of representative projects that will serve as basis for calculating the FIT tariff for solar energy systems.

PSPA assembled the various stakeholders in the solar energy sector in order to secure an industry-wide production cost estimates for the generation and distribution of solar power in the country.

Serving as a dialogue partner of the government for solar energy, the group is composed of solar panel manufacturers, project developers, off-grid solar energy integrators, utility-scale solar electricity providers and electricity distributors.

It was convened by two Harvard-educated energy leaders — Ramon Abaya and Capellan. Abaya of Cepalco owns and operates the only standing one MW solar plant in Cagayan de Oro, while Tetchi Capellan of Intensity Inc. installed the biggest number of solar home systems in off-grid Mindanao under the funding umbrella of USAID.