Solar to partner with conglomerates to grow portfolio

MANILA, Philippines — Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. is partnering with the country’s biggest conglomerates for its overall goal of expanding its solar portfolio.

With demand for solar and renewable energy going strong, Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste is looking to partner with other companies to further grow the business.

“We want to grow our portfolio and it’s all about collaboration. We’re going to bring all the Big Boys along,” Leviste told The Star.

He said bringing in partners could accelerate capacity growth.

Leviste welcomes the idea of conglomerates taking a large share in Solar Philippines’ projects or becoming off-takers.

One of its subsidiaries, Solar Philippines Tarlac Corp. (Solar Tarlac) is a joint venture between Solar Philippines and tycoon Enrique Razon’s Prime Metro Power Holdings Corp. (Prime Power).

In 2020, the two companies entered into a strategic partnership to develop the country’s largest portfolio of solar projects.

Another subsidiary, Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC), the developer of a 500 MW solar project – which is envisioned to be the largest solar project in Southeast Asia, is targeting to debut in the stock market on Dec. 17.

SPNEC priced its initial public offering (IPO) at P1 per share to raise up to P2.7 billion.

Proceeds will be used to complete 100 percent of the cost of the first 50 MW of Phase 1A of the project, which is 25 percent of the cost of the first 225 MW of Phase 1B.

The rest of the proceeds will be used to acquire land to expand the project beyond 500 MW, in support of SPNEC’s plan to develop the largest solar project in Southeast Asia, the company said.

SPNEC’s offer comprises up to 2.7 billion primary common shares to be offered from Dec. 1 to 7.

According to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), this is the first time that a company has been approved to list under the Supplemental Listing and Disclosure Requirements for Renewable Energy (RE) Companies approved by the PSE in 2011.

This means that companies in the development stage are allowed to list, subject to certain requirements, including having a valid and subsisting service contract awarded by the Department of Energy.

Leviste said the PSE is encouraging the development of greenfield developments.

“This will be the first listing in RE, a company that is still in the development stage,” he said.

He said the reception of the market has been strong because of the overall positive sentiment toward RE.

“We want to give them what they want, a new choice for investing in RE,” Leviste said.