Renewable energy firm meets with Marcos for Isabela project

MANILA, Philippines — Officials of the San Ignacio Energy Resources Development Corp. (SIERDC) recently met with President Marcos to talk about their 440-megawatt peak Isabela Power Project, which is expected to contribute to the governments efforts to promote the use of renewable energy.

Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the company is expected to start construction of the facility next year on a 400-hectare land in Ilagan City, Isabela that is being used for sugarcane and bioethanol production.

The solar power facility will begin its operation by 2025 and could generate about 700 gigawatt-hours per year, equivalent to the electricity consumption of around one million households.

“President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. welcomed the P18-billion 440-megawatt peak Isabela Solar Power Project seen to boost the administration’s renewable energy thrust as well as local job generation,” Garafil said in a statement issued yesterday.

The project is expected to create about 2,200 jobs during its various stages of completion, Garafil said.

French renewable energy firm Total Eren, which owns more than 3,700 MW of solar photovoltaic and wind capacity through projects that are in operation or under construction, will be SIERDC’s partner in implementing the project.

The two companies inked a joint agreement in December last year to invest in the development of the Isabela solar project.

Among those present during the meeting, which took place last Feb. 1 in Malacañang, were Special Assistant to the President Secretary Antonio Lagdameo Jr., Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla and Science Secretary Renato Solidum Jr.

SIERDC is an affiliate of the Nextnorth Holdings Corp., a Philippine-based renewable energy developer of solar and hydro projects with around 480 MW potential energy capacity.

Total Eren and its partners Mabalacat and Sindicatum own a 60 MW peak solar farm in Tarlac that has been in operation since September 2021. TotalEnergies, another French firm, is Total Eren’s shareholder, and has been operating in the country since 1998. TotalEnergies is engaged in solar power project development, fuel and lubricants distribution and petroleum logistics and storage.

In his previous speeches, Marcos vowed to promote the use of renewable energy to address the effects of climate change, a phenomenon that he once described as the “greatest threat” affecting people.

“For the welfare of our people, it is incumbent upon us to alleviate the effects of that vulnerability. The use of renewable energy is at the top of our climate agenda. We will increase our use of renewable energy sources such as hydropower, geothermal power, solar, and wind,” he said in his first State of the Nation Address last year.