Meralco eyes solar hybrid projects outside franchise

MANILA, Philippines — The power generating unit of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is exploring the development of solar-hybrid projects outside its franchise area.

Meralco Powergen Corp. (MGen) is also looking at co-developing large scale hybrid solar and storage projects.

This is part of its focus on a portfolio of utility scale solar generation projects to supply the Luzon grid and Meralco customers with competitive tariff. MGen president Rogelio Singson said they are looking at about 150-200 megawatts (MW) in capacity.

“We cannot disclose at this time because of non-disclosure agreements (NDA) but most sites we are assessing are in Luzon,” he said.

The company believes solar generation will form an important part of the energy mix going forward, and will be a growing source of generation without any subsidy.

He said discussions are ongoing with a number of existing project developers for potential partnerships.

“We’re very confident solar will be a major source of power within the next three to five years,” Singson said.

MGen was mandated to actively pursue renewables, particularly solar and wind technology to disrupt its own legacy distribution business.

It earlier said it was eyeing to partner with developers of two to three wind projects as part of boosting the group’s renewable energy portfolio.

One of the projects is with Island Wind Energy Corp., which is developing the 151.2-MW Talim wind power project in Talim Island, Binangonan and Cardona, Rizal.

So far, Meralco has existing renewable energy investments under Spectrum which formally signalled the group’s entry into the renewable energy space by developing rooftop and utility-scale solar photovoltaic projects to meet the requirements of commercial, industrial and residential customers.

The subsidiary has over 10 MW of solar portfolio, which includes the 2.5 MW Tanauan solar project of cigarette manufacturer PMFTC Inc. at its Batangas factory—its single biggest project in its portfolio.