Aboitiz Power Corp. said unit San Carlos Sun Power has completed the construction and commissioning of a 59-megawatt solar power project in Negros Occidental.
Aboitiz Power said the plant was now exporting power to the Visayas grid, joining other players in the race for the feed-in tariff eligibility.
Aboitiz Power said in a statement the project was completed before the Energy Department’s March 15 deadline for solar power projects to avail of the feed-in tariff rate of P8.69 per kilowatt-hour under the second wave of installation target.
“We have successfully completed the project in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental and we are now exporting power into the Visayas grid,” said SaCaSun president and chief operating officer Lino Bernardo.
“We look forward to working with all of our stakeholders to further contribute to a cleaner energy future for Negros and for the Philippines as a whole,” Bernardo said.
Energy Regulatory Commission commissioner Patricia Asirit said the 450-MW installation target under the second wave for solar projects would likely be fully subscribed.
The plant is expected to generate more than 85 gigawatt-hours of clean electricity a year, enough to power 27,600 homes.
This should help avoid the emission of more than 44,000 tons of carbon dioxide over 20 years—the equivalent of taking around 10,000 cars off the road, according to Aboitiz Power.
The P4.9-billion project, Aboitiz Power’s first foray into solar power, was funded with a mix of equity and debt from BDO Unibank Inc.
Aboitiz Power and partner SunEdison earlier awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for their first joint solar power project to Nani Group Corp., the largest wholesale supplier of electric equipment in China.
Aboitiz Power and SunEdison announced in November last year a joint framework agreement to explore, develop, construct and operate up to 300 MW of utility-scale solar in the Philippines over the next three years.
Aboitiz Power is the holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power generation, distribution and retail electricity services.
SunEdison, is the world’s largest renewable energy development company.