The Philippines largest solar power plant is set to commence commercial operations on May 15. It is San Carlos Solar Energy Inc’s (SaCaSol) 22-megawatt solar power plant in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
“We’ve been eagerly awaiting the grand opening of this project, as it will benefit the grid greatly and help avoid the need for diesel plants to supply peak day time power,” said Jose Maria T. Zabaleta, chairman of Bronzeoak Philippines Inc, which is one joint venture partner in SaCaSol, with the other being European investment fund ThomasLloyd Group.
The solar farm, the largest to be put up in the country to date, is located in the San Carlos economic zone. The facility is expected to help improve the Visayas grid’s power supply especially amid projections of a possible prolonged dry spell in the coming weeks.
The SaCaSol consortium invested $44 million to develop the solar plant.
Michael Sieg, ThomasLloyd chairman, said SaCaSol will initially generate 13 megawatts of power within the first week and adding nine megawatts in the following week.
“Installation of the plant’s 88,000 photovoltaic panels is already a sight to behold,” he said.
Besides the project, Bronzeoak and ThomasLloyd also plan to put up two biomass power plants with a capacity of 45 megawatts in Negros Occidental and 30 megawatt in a still to be identified area in Luzon.
- ARNO MAIERBRUGGER