Singapore-based Blueleaf Energy, a portfolio company of Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, said it plans to invest, together with its partners, over $2 billion to put up 2,000 to 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects in the Philippines over the next five years.
“Our goal is we would like to at least do between 2 and 3 gigawatts of renewables in the Philippines over the next five years. And that would translate into an investment commitment in excess of $2 billion,” Blueleaf Energy chief executive Raghuram Natarajan said.
He said the company aimed to construct between 8 GW and 10 GW of renewable energy projects around the Asia Pacific region.
Natarajan said Blueleaf’s overall portfolio would be onshore renewable technologies with a major focus on solar, wind and battery storage.
“Specifically for the Philippines, I would say it’s more solar, onshore wind and storage, but we are actively working together also with the other players, whether that’s geothermal or other ones to be able to integrate that together with the solar and wind farms,” Natarajan said.
“Our intention is eventually to provide in the future a 24/7 renewable energy supply for the Philippines’ people. It’s not realizable immediately right now, but we’re working towards a pathway to reach it,” he said.
Natarajan said Blueleaf Energy would deliver its portfolio of RE projects in the Philippines in partnership with other developers such as SunAsia Energy Inc.
“We do work together with other partners as well depending upon technology, location. And the approach has always been in every country that we work with local partners because we do want to make sure that we are actively engaging,” he said.
Nataran said Blueleaf Energy, as a global company, brings in the knowledge technology, know-how and experience and combines it with the local requirements’ understanding and appreciation of how things are done in the Philippines “to find the best of both worlds.”
The Department of Energy last week awarded Blueleaf Energy and SunAsia six solar energy operating contracts for the construction of floating solar projects capacity of 610.5 megawatts in Laguna Lake.
The six contracts have a combined investment cost of $732.6 million at $1.2 million per MW with full completion eyed by 2025, company executives said.
The contracts form part of the 10 contracts applied for by Blueleaf Energy and Sunasia, bringing the combined capacity to 1.3 MW once approved, with an investment cost of about $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion.
Blueleaf Energy has developed and built almost 2 GW of solar capacity across the globe, including 250 MW in the Philippines.
The company has over 7 GW of solar, wind and storage projects in the pipeline across the Asia Pacific.