Solar Philippines New Energy Corp. (SPNEC), now led by Meralo PowerGen Corp., reported 74-percent project development at the world’s largest integrated renewables and energy storage project in Central Luzon.
“We continue to make significant strides in our low-carbon energy transition journey, highlighted by the progress made in our flagship project, Terra Solar [Terra Solar Philippines Inc.],” MGen president Emmanuel Rubio said.
“We have yet to break ground, although we have already issued early works contract to Energy China. While we’re negotiating the EPCs [engineering, procurement and construction], we said that we will be awarding two EPC contracts. For the phase one, we have divided the first phase into east and west. One is Energy China,” Rubio said.
Rubio said key progress areas include land control where PV land was 62-percent complete and transmission line right of way which was 62-percent complete.
He said permits were 61-percent complete, solar farm project development, 96-percent complete and procurement of major equipment, 95-percent complete.
Terra Solar teamed up with Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp. (Miescor) to build infrastructure needed to connect the solar farm to the national grid.
This includes a main collector substation, two solar collector substations and the installation of a 230 kV connection line.
The project was certified by the Department of Energy as an energy project of national significance in July 2024.
Terra Solar also secured the green lane certification from the Board of Investments on July 23, 2024. This enables the project to benefit from streamlined and expedited permit approval and processing.
Manila Electric Co. and SPNEC formed a strategic partnership with Actis on Sept. 6 with the fund manager taking a 40-percent stake in Terra Solar.