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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Govt pushes solar buildings

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The government plans to require buildings in Metro Manila to install solar panels as an alternative source of energy, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.

Pernia, who serves as the director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority, said he was in talks with Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi for a solar power program in Metro Manila.

“If solar panels are installed on all buildings in Makati and Manila, that will be a lot of relief on our power supply requirements,” Pernia said. 

He said renewable energy projects such as solar facilities on rooftops would be easier to build than coal-fired power plants which would take three years to be operational.

Pernia said because solar power projects would require a lot of space to produce a little amount of electricity, the program should involve installing solar power panels on rooftops of every building in Makati and Manila.

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“Coal-fired plants take long—about three years [to build]. Solar and renewables are faster [to build]. That’s the advantage of renewables. I think solar plants can be done in six months. The problem is that solar [facilities] generate little megawatts, so we need a lot of them,” Pernia said. 

“I have been talking the DoE [Department of Energy] secretary already and he did not seem to be adverse toward it.  It would not be households, but buildings owned by businesses that can afford [the cost],” he said. 

The government recently  approved a 500-megawatt installation target for solar projects that could avail of feed-in-tariff rate of P9.68 per kilowatt-hour under the first round and P8.69 per kWh under the second round. 

Production cost of solar facilities dropped in recent years, following massive adoption in many countries.  Solar players confirmed that actual production cost suddenly fell below P5 per kWh this year, making it comparable to other sources of energy.

Among the largest solar farms in the Philippines are the 132.5-megawatt solar farm in Cadiz City developed by Helios Solar Energy Corp. and Soleq Holdings Inc., the 63.3-MW Calatagan solar farm in Batangas built by Solar Philippines and the 45-MW Sacasol 1 solar farm in San Carlos City put up by San Carlos Solar Energy Inc.

Buildings and commercial centers also began drawing a part of their energy requirements from the sun.

Robinsons Starmills in San Fernando, Pampanga tapped Solenergy Systems Inc. to put up a 2.88-megawatt solar plant on its roof, making it the world’s largest solar-powered mall, beating SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City with 2.7-MW plant built by Solar Philippines and SM North Edsa with 1.5-MW facility also built by Solar Philippines.

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