Emerging Power to roll out new RE projects

MANILA, Philippines — Emerging Power Inc., the renewable energy (RE) unit of Nickel Asia Corp., plans to roll out 650 megawatts (MW) of projects under its partnership with Shell Overseas Investments B.V. by 2025.

In a recent briefing, EPI CEO Ronaldo Ibasco said the partnership with Shell is progressing well toward achieving the set target of one gigawatt (GW) capacity by 2028.

“I must tell you that the working arrangement has been going very well. We progressed quite a bit on government, as well as business planning,” he said.

“Needless to say, by 2025 we’re looking at 650-MW of projects that are energized or in construction leading towards one GW in a year after,” Ibasco said.

Initially, the partners under joint venture Greenlight Renewables Holdings Inc. are launching a 2x120-MW solar farm in Leyte to get the ball rolling.

“Indeed we are launching the first project in Leyte, which is a 240-MW solar farm. The pipeline continues to build up so we’re confident about our targets down the road,” Ibasco said.

Pre-development is underway with target completion for the project in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Commercial operations for the first 120-MW phase of the solar plant is set in the first quarter of 2025.

“For that specific project, we’ve done significant de-risking. We’ve managed to convert the land into industrial. We’ve also gotten approval for NGCP (National Grid Corp. of the Philippines) to connect so we’re working towards the right-of-way,” Ibasco said.

Greenlight Renewables, which is 60-percent owned by EPI and 40-percent under Shell, is a platform to develop, own, operate, and maintain utility-scale onshore solar and wind power generations projects, as well as battery energy storage systems in the Philippines.

Outside this partnership, EPI is developing a 72-MW expansion of its Jobin-SQM Inc. (JSI) solar farm in Subic, Zambales.

This is the fourth phase of expansion of the said project, which currently has a 100-MW capacity.

“We do have 100 MW in Subic, that will be 172 MW by this year,” Ibasco said.

The fourth expansion is targeted to be completed in the third quarter, with commercial operations slated in the fourth quarter.

EPI is also working on another 130-MW project in Cawag, Subic, which is undergoing pre-development activities.

Construction is estimated to commence in the first quarter of 2024, with target completion in the fourth quarter of the same year.

Last January, EPI’s parent firm Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC) announced that it was pouring in P2.92 billion in its renewable energy subsidiary via subscription to additional common shares to support its operations and investments.

The additional investment will allow NAC to raise its equity ownership in EPI to 95.8 percent.

Proceeds of the investment will be utilized primarily for EPI’s operations, as well as operating expenses of EPI affiliate Biliran Geothermal Inc. and subsidiary Mindoro Geothermal Power Corp.

EPI is developing pilot geothermal projects in Mindoro and Biliran. Once completed, the pilot operations may be expanded to realize potentially 20 MW in Mindoro and 50 MW in Biliran.

NAC’s additional investment will also bankroll EPI’s investments in the projects of its other subsidiaries and investments in Greenlight Renewables.