SPNEC converting vast tract of land for industrial use

MANILA, Philippines — SP New Energy Corp. (SPNEC) is targeting to convert over 3,000 hectares of land in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan for industrial use this year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, SPNEC said it is preparing the lands for industrial conversion before the new year ends after securing off-take agreements for its projects in 2022.

The company said it has fully secured the majority of its target lands.

It said documentation is ongoing to complete the acquisitions, in parallel to the submissions of the already fully secured lands for conversion to industrial use.

SPNEC hopes to complete the submissions of the lands for conversion by the end of the first quarter, with the conversion of the over 3,000 hectares to industrial use targeted by the end of the year.

“Converting over 3,000 hectares for industrial use is the most significant value driver for SPNEC, and we will provide further updates as we work to create value on this for our shareholders,” Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste said.

“Land underpins an entire project, and our landbank in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan in particular is unique,x2 in terms of its scale and proximity to Manila,” he said.

At over 3,000 hectares, SPNEC said its landbank in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan, upon its completion, would be one of the largest industrial developments of any kind in the Philippines and larger than all the solar projects operating in the country to date combined.

The largest project of Solar Philippines is under Terra Solar Philippines Inc., a joint venture that has a power supply agreement with Meralco to supply 850 megawatts of mid-merit from a planned 3.5-gigawatt (GW) solar, 4.5-gigawatt-hour battery project, which may require land in provinces including Nueva Ecija and Bulacan.

Solar Philippines earlier said the properties secured by unit SPNEC could fit a project that would exceed the capacity of India’s Bhadla Solar Farm, currently the world’s largest solar farm at over 2.2 GW.

Also, it could surpass the capacity of the total grid-connected solar operating in the Philippines according to the Department of Energy’s latest figures as of August, the company said.