Miguel Mapa, a former investment banker turned entrepreneur, is betting big on solar energy. The 33-year-old believes that sunshine will power most Philippine industries in the coming years as part of the country’s energy transition.
“Solar energy is renewable for one,” Mapa says. “We don’t burn fuel. We actually avoid greenhouse emissions. We don’t harm the environment. So, it’s definitely good for the planet.”
Mapa is the founder and CEO of Nextnorth Holdings Corp., a renewable energy company developing a massive 440-megawatt solar farm in Ilagan City, Isabela.
“This concerns all of us. It is something we should all aspire for together as a nation, as a generation because of the threats of climate change. Energy security issues and the cost of electricity affect our daily lives, our families, everyone around us,” says Mapa, who obtained a BS Management degree from Ateneo de Manila University in 2013.
He worked as a foreign exchange trader at HSBC after graduation. “My background is in banking. Eventually, I moved to a renewable energy firm way back in 2016. That’s how I learned that the concept of banking is very important in renewable energy projects.”
He joined German-led energy firm WeGen as business development manager in 2016, when renewable energy was still a new concept to some stakeholders in the Philippines and its prices were not yet competitive.
“The difference now is that, number one, you have all the agreements around the world taking notice of climate change,” he says. “So, there’s global action. Countries set targets in terms of reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. There’s really a global push.”
“The second is the concept of energy security, which we largely experienced during the Russia-Ukraine war when the prices of coal, a big energy source of the Philippines, skyrocketed,” he says. “Electricity prices became more expensive because of imported coal.”
In 2019, Mapa, combining his experience from banking and energy, founded Nextnorth. “It started with one project,” he says. “We learned the ropes through the years. We saw the challenges and opportunities in the sector. This was way back in 2019, still before the time when you had all the clamor for renewable energy. The attention for renewable energy really exploded in 2022 onwards. But back then, we were quietly developing projects.”
“The view is to become patient because I believe that there will be a huge market demand for renewable energy,” Mapa says.
Mapa’s patience paid off, as Nextnorth prepares to break ground for the Ilagan solar farm by the fourth quarter of 2024 or the first quarter of 2025. TotalEnergies, a French multinational company, is a major investor in the project.
The project is expected to cost P18 billion and employ thousands of workers from the community during construction. “So, there’s a lot of money, multiple permits, multiple financial arrangements and many other commercial arrangements that you have to get in place before you actually break ground,” Mapa says. “Based on our calendar, we’re trying to break ground within the next few months.”
“Project construction will take around 15 to 18 months, such that the plant will be operational by the middle or third quarter of 2026,” he says.
The entry of TotalEnergies is very timely, after the government relaxed foreign ownership restrictions on RE projects. “That’s one of the things that are really accelerating the growth of the renewable energy portfolio here,” he says. “Foreign companies are more comfortable investing here.”
Mapa says of all the renewable energy sources, solar is the quickest to develop. “You don’t have much earth-moving civil works and heavy engineering because at the end of the day, you’re buying panels and you are laying them down in an area,” he says. Roderick T. dela Cruz
Compared to other energy sources, solar also has one of the lowest costs. “Solar generation charges are within the P4 per kilowatt-hour range, while in July it was more than P7 for coal, which already declined from P10 per kWh at its peak early this year,” he says.
Mapa says demand for renewable energy is also rising. “The industry is really maturing. So, I’m confident that we will reach our renewable energy goals. Now, we’re seeing the demand outweigh the supply in terms of renewable. Electricity utilities and electricity suppliers who service the end-customers are the ones who approach renewable energy producers,” he says.
“More and more end-customers, factories, etc. are choosing to procure green energy,” he says. “They are telling their customers that they use 100-percent green energy. It’s a growing market right now.”
