Nickel Asia unit, Shell Overseas Investments B.V. enter joint venture to develop RE projects in Philippines

In a statement yesterday, Prime Infrastructure said it is putting up a solar power facility with a capacity of 2,500-to-3,500-megawatt (MW) combined with 4,000 to 4,500-megawatt-hour (MWh) of battery energy storage system (BESS).
STAR/File

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 4:39 p.m.) — A unit of Nickel Asia Corp. signed a joint venture deal with Shell Overseas Investments B.V. to develop renewable energy projects in the Philippines.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, the listed mining firm said this new venture with the Netherlands-based oil giant aims to build RE projects that will provide a total capacity of 1 gigawatt (GW) by 2028. Majority of these projects will focus on solar power.

"The focus will be on utility scale solar photovoltaic (PV) while evaluating opportunities in onshore wind and energy storage systems," NAC said.

Citing industry figures, NAC said that 1 GW of power generated from solar photovoltaic technology can supply the annual daytime consumption requirements of over 1.2 million homes. A typical Filipino household consumes 200 kilowatts-hour per month. 

Country Chair of the Shell Companies in the Philippines Lorelie Osial, meanwhile, said Shell will be able to contribute its technical expertise and integrated solutions to the partnership. 

The Philippine government seeks to increase the share of renewables in the country's power mix by 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040, according to the latest Philippine Energy Plan. This means the country needs to build more projects with an RE capacity of around 74 GW over the next twenty years, NAC said. 

Last year, the Philippines submitted its first nationally determined contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as it vowed to slash greenhouse gases by 75%.

Shares at NAC finished trading up 0.48% at P6.33 apiece at the end of weekly trading.

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