Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. on Tuesday broke ground on its P21-billion, 680-megawatt solar power plant in Tuy, Batangas, becoming the largest among the company’s renewable energy portfolio.
It is also the biggest RE project to be constructed in Batangas province. It will be constructed in two phases over two years and is expected to provide a much-needed boost to the Luzon grid after its completion.
“CREC is committed to invest and develop more solar plants in the long run and help expand the country’s total renewable energy capacity. In fact, we have upsized our solar energy project pipeline alone by more than three times, from 1.5 gigawatts to 5GW, in the next five years,” CREC president and chief executive Oliver Tan said during the plant’s groundbreaking ceremony.
The company is capitalizing on technological hardware to augment and stretch the benefits of its solar power inventory.
“We are also investing in the battery energy storage system to extend the life of solar energy beyond daytime and offer more competitive alternatives to end-users,” said Tan.
The project will generate 2,400 jobs during the construction phase, where the majority will be sourced within the host community and surrounding areas.
The Batangas solar project, to be situated in a 5-million-square-meter land parcel, will have an estimated cost of P21.6 billion and will begin commercial operations by 2024.
Citicore plans to engage Megawide Construction Corp.-Citicore Construction Inc. for the plant’s pre-development, construction and commissioning.
“With this development, CREC is helping the government achieve its long-term clean energy targets of 30 percent renewable energy share in 2035 and 50 percent in 2040 in the Philippines,” Department of Energy Undersecretary for special concerns Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said.
“No doubt, the development this solar farm can further boost the country’s economy through local employment and additional livelihood opportunities for the host communities,” he said.
Tuy Mayor Jecerell Cerrado thanked CREC for bringing the big-ticket project to Tuy, Batangas.
“We are all in this collective movement towards a sustainable future for all by harnessing cleaner and renewable energy sources,” Cerrado said.
CREC is developing solar, run-of-river hydro and offshore wind energy projects with a combined capacity of 5,000 MW of projects in varying stages of development.
