SAN Carlos Solar Energy Inc. (SaCaSol) is building another solar-power facility on Negros Island next year that will entail an investment by as much as $133 million.
“We are really committed to developing renewable energy in the country. Our principals have already committed these projects to former Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla,” San Carlos Biopower Inc. Vice Chairman Don Mario Dia said.
The newest solar project, with a 70-megawatt (MW) capacity, will be constructed in five to six months, just in time to be qualified for the current batch of the new feed-in-tariff (FiT) rate set at P8.69 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). A lower FiT rate will be set by the Energy Regulatory Commission after March 15, 2016.
“We have in the pipeline, I would say, 70 MW on solar to be put up in Negros also. We can build it already in five to six months because the site is there. It does not need any conversion since it’s already an industrial site,” Dia said.
The project awaits board approval on project financing soon.
“There’s a board meeting next week. We need to financially close the project. We will try to meet the March FiT rate,” he said.
SaCaSol’s 22-MW solar facility is already operational, while another solar project, with a capacity of 23 MW, will be operational in August, the company official said.
Apart from these, SaCaSol is also involved in two more solar projects: a 32-MW solar farm in La Carlota City and a 48-MW plant in the municipality of Manlapa.
“For our project in La Carlota, it’s ongoing and it should be done by end of this year and commissioning by January next year. The Manlapa project will be finished by February next year. We will include them under the FiT scheme,” he said, adding that the 70-MW solar project will be constructed in phases.