Helios Solar Energy links solar farm to Visayas grid

MANILA, Philippines - Helios Solar Energy Corp. is seeking regulatory approval to construct a transmission line connecting its 132.5-megawatt (MW) solar farm in Negros Oriental to the Visayas grid.

Helios, formerly called Phil-Power Solar Energy Corp. (PPSEC), filed an application with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to develop, own and operate dedicated point-to-point limited facilities to connect to the transmission system of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP).

The estimated cost for the transmission line is P56.22 million.

The company is currently building a 132.5-MW solar plant in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.

The facility, which was originally intended to have a 100-MW capacity, is targeted for completion by January 2016 to help address the need for additional supply in the Visayas grid and beat the deadline for the feed-in tariff (FIT) allocation, the firm said.

The point-to-point transmission facility is necessary to test, commission and dispatch the solar farm’s generating capacity to the grid.

Solar developers have until March 2016 to complete and produce power from their projects to be eligible to receive the new P8.69 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) FIT rate, among other incentives.