SunAsia rolls out solar rooftop for Home Depot stores

MANILA, Philippines - SunAsia Energy has rolled out solar rooftops for Home Depot stores in Metro Manila.

For phase one of the Solar Rooftop Program, Home Depot will start with 100 kilowatts and apply the net metering program of power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which allows consumers to be able to sell excess electricity back to the grid.

The second phase will follow immediately in the middle of 2015.

The Fairview outlet of Home Depot, for instance, has a roof area of 5,000 square meters and can accommodate 490-kilowatt solar rooftop system.

SunAsia Energy chief executive officer Tetchi Cruz-Capellan said the techno-logy of choice is photovoltaic and about 1,960 solar modules can be installed on the roof with the capacity to produce as much as 643,878 kwh annually given an available sunhours in Metro Manila of about 4.8 daily.

The solar industry predicts more rooftop installations for commercial rooftops in 2015.

The Philippine Solar Power Association (PSPA), also headed by Capellan, said the drop in the system prices, as well as the reduction in installation cost, as the driving force behind the fast adoption of solar in the Philippines. 

She said the first 50 MW utility-scale installation in the country last year paved the way for improvements in the components supply and logistics of solar, resulting in lower overall system cost. 

In 2015, the industry forecasts an increased confidence in banking sector, which Capellan said would pave the way for better access to financing for solar companies.