Yuchengco Group eyes more solar rooftops

MANILA, Philippines — The Yuchengo Group of Companies (YGC) is eyeing to put up more solar rooftop projects across its buildings after recently completing its first in Manila.

Yuchengco-led PetroGreen Energy Corp. (PGEC) said it has completed its first commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop solar power project at the 12-story Enrique T. Yuchengco (ETY) office building in Binondo, Manila.

PGEC, the renewable energy holding unit of publicly listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (PERC), said the project was completed in less than 15 weeks even as COVID-19 cases surged recently.

Landev Corp., also a YGC firm, took the first step in transforming ETY Building as a more sustainable structure, its president and general manager Mario Paguio said.

He said the company is aiming to replicate the solar rooftop project in other buildings it manages,.

“As the property manager of ETY Building, Landev Corp. has initiated cost effective environmental and sustainable technologies such as solar power. Our partnership with PGEC ensured that the project was successfully completed as scheduled from design to installation and was compliant to technical specifications and quality standards,” Paguio said.

PGEC assistant vice president for power plant operations Paul Elmer Morala said the ETY building solar rooftop project has a capacity of 140.8 kilowatts peak (kWp), using 352 units of 405-watt solar panels and two units of 60-kWac of string inverter installed in 900 square meters of rooftop space.

“This project takes advantage of synergies with PGEC’s utility-scale solar power ventures and we intend to provide other commercial and industrial clients with the same competitive service we gave to ETY,” Morala said.

The system can generate about 190 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity annually, or approximately 20 percent of the building’s daily power consumption, thus yielding significant savings for the building owner.

Reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is estimated at 84.78 metric tons for one year.