The Board of Investments granted fiscal incentives to the P4.15-billion solar energy project of Pilipinas Newton Energy Corp. under the Renewable Energy Act and the Investment Priorities Plan.
The company is building the solar project in San Manuel, Pangasinan, over a land area of approximately 70 hectares. It will use fixed photovoltaics modules for the generation of electricity with a peak capacity of up to 68.7 megawatts.
The company will tap 27 personnel when commercial operation starts in June 2018. Pilipinas Newton plans sell the power output to either distribution utilities or the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
The company chose Barangays San Bonifacio and San Roque in San Manuel as site of the project. The areas are classified as agricultural land with no irrigation and with majority of the land considered as grassland by the municipality of San Manuel under its comprehensive land use plan.
The site showed favorable conditions due to accessibility, proximity to the transmission tapping point, absence of tenants, availability of additional area for expansion, and good topography with minimal land movement need.
“The demand for power will continue to increase due to the ongoing industrialization in the country as it fuels the infrastructure expansion and the growth of the manufacturing industry. At the same time, we are already transitioning towards using more renewable energy in response to climate change as part of our National Renewable Energy Program,” Trade Undersecretary and BoI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said.
Renewable energy plants (geothermal, hydro, wind, biomass and solar) accounted for the biggest share of the country’s total installed power capacity with 34.3 percent as of 2016, according to the Department of Energy.
Additional data showed the country awarded 166 solar projects with a potential capacity of 4,081 MW, of which 903 MW were installed in 2016.The DoE approved 755 renewable projects with a potential capacity of 16,949 MW, with 4,522 MW installed last year.