nv vogt starts 2nd Tarlac solar project

MANILA, Philippines – German-backed solar developer nv vogt Philippines has launched its second solar project in Tarlac which has an 8.84-megawatt (MW) capacity.

Located in Sitio Sampaloc, Barangay Armenia, Tarlac City, the plant is also its third solar plant in the country, after its 7.48-MW solar farm in Bgy. Dalayap in Tarlac City and 10-MW plant in Surallah, South Cotabato.

The company said its Armenia solar farm started exporting power through Tarlac Electric Inc. (TEI) at the end of February 2016 via TEI’s distribution network stretching 14-kilometers linked to its San Rafael sub-station.

The plant generates enough power to serve an estimated 7,600 homes. 

“As part of the goal in preserving our environment, it is projected to reduce around 14 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually,” the firm said.

nv vogt is targeting the plant to be covered under the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) program after having met the March 15, 2016 deadline with a rate of P8.69 over the next 20 years. 

With a total installed capacity of 8.84 MW peak consisting of 33,984 solar panels, the company said the entire infrastructure was built in just 60 days from the start of construction to being fully operational.

It said the plant was built through the competent management of an offshore EPC partner ib-vogt from Germany, partnered with an on-shore EPC AD Villanueva Builders.

nv-vogt has installed over 500MW worldwide while AD Villanueva is the same local partner who installed nv vogt’s solar plants in Surallah, South Cotabato Mindanao and in Dalayap, Tarlac.

Last May, nv vogt Philippines president Vivek Chaudhri said the group is eyeing to build 200 MW of solar capacity in the next three years.

He said the solar farms will cost around $300 million and will be located mostly in Luzon and Mindanao.

The firm is also eyeing a solar park concept in partnership with a local government in Mindanao and this effort is being led by its president Reynaldo Casas.