Solar Philippines, Citicore Power abandon Batangas solar venture

MANILA, Philippines - Citicore Power, a sister firm of Megawide Construction Corp., and Solar Philippines have abandoned their joint venture agreement to build up to 250 megawatts of solar power capacity in Luzon, less than a year since the two companies announced the deal in May.

“We are doing it alone,” Solar Philippines chief executive officer Leandro Leviste told The STAR.

He declined to elaborate on why the joint venture has fallen through but Leviste said the planned solar farms would proceed.

Leviste is exploring financing options for the project from different banks.

Industry sources said the two parties had disagreements on the financial aspect as well as the property in Calatagan, Batangas where the first plant rated at 60 MW was supposed to be built.

The STAR sought Megawide’s officials for their side but no comment was given as of press time.

It was in May when Citicore and Solar Philippines announced they are joining forces to build up to 250 megawatts of solar power projects around the country.

The 50-50 percent joint venture project was supposed to build an initial 60 MW solar farm in Calatagan, Batangas, a property owned by former Batangas Governor Antonio Leviste.

Leandro Leviste is the son of Sen. Loren Legarda and the former governor.

After the initial 60 MW project, the joint venture project was supposed to complete the 250 MW target through two more solar farms in Luzon and Mindanao, with a bigger chunk of the remaining 190 MW going to the Luzon solar farm.

The target was to build the Batangas solar plant by 2016, which was supposed to supply power to the entire Western Batangas and become the largest solar farm in Luzon.

The Batangas project is expected to offset over one million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent to planting over five million trees.