President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday led the energization of the Citicore Solar Batangas 1 Power Plants, the country’s first hybrid agro-solar and battery storage system (BSS).
Speaking before government officials, local leaders and executives of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. in Tuy, Batangas, the President said the initiative represents a “very, very important step” in the country’s transition to renewable power and would deliver cleaner electricity to thousands of households while boosting food production.
“This project shows the world that solar power is the path toward a sustainable and clean way of providing light to our homes and industries,” Marcos said.
The P10-billion facility, located in the Batangas towns of Lumbangan and Luntal, allows the solar farm to store energy and provide power beyond normal daylight hours, the company said.
“Our Citicore Solar Batangas 1 is the first in the Philippines to prove that solar can be true baseload power,” said Oliver Tan, president and chief executive of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) in a statement.
“With 1.5 gigawatt-hours [GWh] of battery energy storage systems in place, we are prepared to replicate this breakthrough starting in Batangas,” said Tan.
He said the project would help the country reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
CREC chairman Edgar Saavedra said the company’s “vertically integrated, end-to-end development process” would allow it to complete projects on time and at a lower cost.
Completing CREC’s one-gigawatt solar lineup are 11 facilities in Pangasinan, Pampanga, Batangas, Quezon and Negros Occidental. Three of the Batangas sites will also host a combined 760 MWh of BESS.
The company said it plans to energize the projects by the end of the year, which would reduce carbon emissions and power an estimated 800,000 homes annually.
Nine of the 11 projects have secured a 20-year power purchase agreement with the government through the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP)-2.
The projects are also certified by the Department of Energy and have Green Lane Certifications from the Bureau of Investments.
After completing its first gigawatt by year-end, CREC aims to begin construction on a second gigawatt of renewable energy, including solar, integrated renewable energy and energy storage systems and onshore wind.
