Four new solar farms with a combined power generating capacity of 98 megawatts in the Visayas have been completed by Bronzeoak Philippines and its partners ahead of the March 16 feed-in tariff availment deadline set by the Energy Department.
Bronzeoak Philippines said in a statement all four plants were fully tested by transmission operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, and registered with the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market and approved for full power export.
“As required by DoE and NGCP, all four plants can be independently verified by the grid system operator as operating and exporting power from each and every one of its power generating inverters, all well before the March 15 deadline to avail of the feed-in tariff mechanism,” the company said.
The first of the four plants to meet all the requirements is the 18-MW solar farm in Bais City, Negros Oriental owned by Monte Solar Energy Inc., or Montesol, a partnership between Bronzeoak and Ayala unit AC Energy Holdings Inc.
It is located near the Cebu-Negros undersea cable and helps meet the rapidly growing daytime power requirements of Dumaguete City and Cebu.
The Montesol solar power plant is expected to supply approximately 45,000 homes with electricity generated from over 67,000 solar photovoltaic modules. Montesol’s 18-MW plant is the first phase of the targeted total of 50 MW to be completed by the joint venture.
The next three plants, totaling 80 MW in Negros Occidental, are owned by Negros Island Solar Power Inc., a joint venture between Bronzeoak, Macquarie managed Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure, or PINAI Fund, and Dutch pension fund manager APG.
The three plants, with a capacity 18 MW and 14 MW, respectively, in La Carlota City and 48 MW located in the municipality of Manapla, also met all the requirements of the department and National Grid. They are currently providing daytime power to seven million people in Negros Occidental and Panay’s four provinces.
Negros Island Solar Power is a special purpose vehicle for the La Carlota and Manapla solar plants on Negros island. The power plants are expected to supply approximately 200,000 homes with electricity generated from over 300,000 solar photovoltaic modules.
The new batch of 80 MW is the second venture between Bronzeoak and the PINAI Fund, after 45-MW Sacasol plant in San Carlos City started operations in 2014.
The largest investor in the PINAI Fund, and, thus, the biggest shareholder in the 125-MW solar portfolio, is the Government Service Insurance System, giving all government employees a stake in the success of solar energy.
Once the solar plants are declared eligible, it can avail of the P8.69 per kilowatt-hour feed-in tariff under the 450-MW second wave of installation target set on solar projects.
