Power retailer Manila Electric Co. expects to secure an additional 50 megawatts to 100 MW from solar energy producers, a top executive said Wednesday.
“We’ll see if it [distribution grid] can still accommodate 50 MW to 100 MW more and then we will take a look at the impact on the grid [and] on certain circuits. If there’s capacity to do more at the right price, that’s beneficial to our overall generation charge,” Meralco president Oscar Reyes said.
Meralco already signed up three power supply agreements covering 185 MW of solar capacity from suppliers Solar Philippines and PowerSource First Bulacan Solar Inc.
The three power supply agreements are awaiting approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission.
“We’re looking at additional solar power that has been offered to us for power supply agreements,” Reyes said.
“We’re in discussions with several parties, maybe in the next three to six months…There are a lot of offers. I think we’ve received more than 10,” he said.
Reyes said Meralco would consider the intermittency of solar power, prior to signing new contracts to determine if it would affect the stability of the grid and the generation charges of Meralco.
“We’re doing it in a way that we also want to ensure that penetration of solar in the system is something the distribution grid can absorb, without adversely affecting the quality of power performance because of the intermittency of solar. We have to ensure it does not affect the grid or the circuits of the grid,” he said.
“We will take a look at the impact on the grid [and] on certain circuits. If there’s capacity to do more at the right price, that’s beneficial to our overall generation charge,” Reyes said.
Reyes called on ERC to approve the supply contracts as the hearings on the first three power supply agreements had been completed.
“We’d like to see hopefully, action on the first three solar PSAs to enable us to better have a decision on the next batches,” he said.
Meralco signed a PSA with Solar Philippines Tarlac Corp. for up to 85 megawatts of power supplied from the latter’s Tarlac solar facility at P2.99 per kilowatt-hour in September.
Meralco said the Tarlac solar rate “is significantly lower than the prevailing solar feed-in tariff rates and a welcome development for consumers.”
PowerSource last year signed a PSA with Meralco to supply 50 MW of capacity at P5.39 per kilowatt-hour.
PowerSource will supply Meralco with 50 MW of solar capacity for 20 years from its planned power plant in San Miguel, Bulacan.
Solar Philippines Tanauan Corp. also signed a PSA with Meralco for 50 MW from two projects in Batangas and Cavite.