AboitizPower to start construction of solar farm in Pangasinan

MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz Power Corp. is eyeing to start construction of its latest solar farm in Pangasinan this month.

The company would soon issue the go-ahead to its contractor to build the 74-megawatt AC (MWac)/94MWdc solar power facility in Bugallon, Pangasinan, AboitizPower president and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said during the virtual Energy Investment Forum hosted by the Department of Energy (DOE) Friday.

”For our 94-MW (DC) solar project in Cayanga, Bugallon, Pangasinan, the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) tendering process is in the final stages and the target notice to proceed is expected in the first week of December,” he said.

Rubio said the project is expected to be commercially operational by the fourth quarter of 2022.

This project is the company’s second solar power venture after its 59-MW-peak facility in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, which was inaugurated in 2016.

The Bugallon project is part the initial wave of renewable energy (RE) rollouts of AboitizPower as it plans to triple its portfolio under Cleanergy, its brand of renewable energy.

“For AboitizPower, we are responding to the environmental challenges by targeting to reduce our carbon footprint through our renewable energy growth strategy in the next 10 years. Growing Cleanergy by almost threefold will result in a 50:50 balance between our thermal and renewable energy portfolio by 2030,” Rubio said.

“This strategy is well aligned with the government’s efforts to grow the country’s renewable energy capacity, outlined in the DOE’s latest Philippine Energy Plan,” he said.

The company aims to hit 4,600 MW of Cleanergy capacity by 2030. To reach this goal, it has about P190 billion for these projects.

As of October, Rubio said the company has already identified 3,500 MW of new RE projects across the country, all in varying stages of development.

Its renewable energy portfolio is currently at 940 MW.

To date, the Aboitiz Group and its partners produce 4,471 MW of total net sellable capacity of electricity from both thermal and renewable power sources.