Citicore completes Bataan solar project

MANILA, Philippines – Citicore Power, a sister firm of Megawide Construction Corp., has completed another solar power project, this time an 18-megawatt (MW) solar farm in Bataan.

The company is hopeful to get the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) eligibility for the Bataan solar farm, which was inaugurated yesterday.

Citicore Power executive vice president Manolo Candelaria said the power facility will operate and inject power to the Luzon grid before the FIT deadline on March 15, 2016.

“We are optimistic both our Bataan and Silay solar power plants will be awarded the FIT renewable energy incentive by the government,” he said. “We have been coordinating non-stop with officials from the Department of Energy, Energy Regulatory Commission, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and the Philippine Electricity Market Corp.”

Under the FIT system, renewable energy (RE) developers are entitled to a set of incentives.

For solar, power developers are given until mid-March to complete their projects and start supplying to the grid to be able to receive the FIT rate of P8.69 per kilowatt-hour.

Located in the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB) in Barangay Alasasin, Mariveles, the power plant spans 37 hectares and was done under project company Next Generation Power Technology Corp. (NGPTC).

The facility is made up of over 68,500 photovoltaic (PV) modules, which will power 22,000 homes connected to the Luzon grid and help avoid 13,000 metric tons of carbon emissions per year – equivalent to planting 600,000 trees over the life of the facility.

Citicore spent P1.6 billion to construct the project, which was secured through Land Bank of the Philippines with Primeiro Partners as financial consultants.

The unveiling of the Bataan solar farm comes barely a week after the inauguration of the company’s 25-MW solar plant in Silay, Negros Occidental.

Candelaria noted the company envisions itself to become one of Southeast Asia’s leading renewable energy companies by 2020.