Solar Philippines to convert 3,000 hectares of land for solar projects

MANILA, Philippines — Solar Philippines New Energy Corp. announced its plan to convert lands located in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan for solar energy projects in its pipeline.

In a disclosure sent to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Solar Philippines said that over 3,000 hectares will be prepped by the first quarter of this year. Conversion of these lands will commence by the final quarter of 2023. 

“Land underpins an entire project, and our landbank in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, in particular, is unique, in terms of its scale and proximity to Manila,” Leandro Leviste, company founder, said.

The renewables company noted that documentation for its land acquisitions are nearing completion. 

Solar Philippines’ largest project is Terra Solar Philippines, Inc. This is a joint venture with a power supply agreement with Pangilinan-led Manila Electric Co. 

The agreement covers 850 megawatts of mid-merit sourced from a planned 3.5 gigawatts solar, 4.5 GWh battery project. A mid-merit is a power plant that tweaks its output to keep up with day-to-day fluctuations in energy demand. According to Solar Philippines, this too may require land from their holdings in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan. 

The company said they would be updating shareholders on this project’s progress. 

The energy department set a goalpost of increasing the share of renewable energy in the country’s power generation mix. If realized, this would bring the current 22% clean-energy share to 35% by 2030, then 50% by 2040.

Shares in Solar Philippines finished the first trading day of the year flat at P1.2 apiece.