Solar Philippines plans to join the bidding for the renewable energy requirements of India and expects to sign a contract within the year, a top executive said.
“We’re prioritizing countries where there is a competitive selection process for power suppliers because we believe that that is where we’re most competitive. Namely, I can share India, which is now the largest solar market after China and might actually surpass China because of the slowdown in the FIT [feed-in tariff] in China,” Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste said.
Leviste said solar power rates in India ranged from P2 to P3 per kilowatt-hour but involved thousands of megawatts.
“In the last 10 years in India, they awarded more than a thousand MW to one company in one go. We’re hopeful that by bringing the cost of solar energy down to India levels in the Philippines, we’ll be able to convince DUs [distribution utilities] and policymakers to unlock that same volume,” he said.
Leviste said the company was bullish on prospects in India after its government imposed tariffs on Chinese and Malaysian panels.
“The Indian solar panel manufacturers, but also non-Chinese and non-Malaysian solar panel manufacturers, will greatly benefit from this,” he said.
Leviste said India planned to award 20,000 MW of solar capacity every year with an ultimate target of achieving 100,000 MW by 2022.
“By 2030, they’re going to announce a new target which they say is going to be about 700,000 MW of solar. Obviously, if we can get one percent of that, that’s already much bigger than what’s in the Philippines,” he said.
Leviste said India was a role model for the entire world on how a regime of competitive tenders with large volume could encourage the renewable energy industry to stop being dependent on government subsidies.
“We’re targeting in the neighborhood of 500 MW of PPAs signed in India within the next year. Next 12 months [from July] of our development [would be] in India. But again, that can be more if the development of Philippine solar projects will not proceed as fast so that we can keep growing the pipeline beyond the Philippines,” he said.
He said the lowest price in India was around P1.9 per kWh, while the average price was P2 per kWh for 300-MW to 500-MW projects.
Leviste said Solar Philippines was also looking at opportunities in Southeast Asia because of its “relatively open and free market environment.”
Leviste said overseas expansion would be a part of the company’s long-term growth plan, although the Philippines “remains by far the priority.”
Solar Philippines said around 400 megawatts of solar projects were due for completion this year, including projects in off-grid areas.
“Among the projects that we are completing and constructing already now, we’re looking at 400 MW by the end of this year. Tarlac, Cavite, Batangas, and our smaller distributed projects totaling 400 MW of total installed capacity,” said Leviste.