SNAP eyes floating solar power plants

Floating solar power plants may soon be part of the portfolio of SN Aboitiz Power (SNAP) as the company moves to go beyond hydroelectric power development and boost supply for consumers, its top official said last week.

SNAP president and chief executive Joseph Yu told reporters that they aimed to build a floating solar power plant that would have up to 60 megawatts (MW) of capacity.

“There are different configurations and hopefully we can reach a final investment decision in 2024,” Yu said.

SNAP, a hydropower joint venture between Aboitiz Power Corp. and Norwegian firm Scatec, currently does not have any floating solar facility in its portfolio.

It has four hydroelectric power plants spanning three provinces with an attributable capacity of 201.55 MW.

The company also has a 24-MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Benguet province.

According to Yu, the planned floating solar power plant would also be stationed in Benguet so the company could hybridize its renewable technologies.

“We actually see all these things working together as a hybrid [power source] and we think there’s room to optimize,” he said.

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“We feel that the capacity of solar PV is highly complementary to the profile of hydro power,” Yu added.

Last week, Yu announced plans of developing three more BESS facilities next year with a combined capacity of 100 MW to ensure that they can provide enough power to meet high demand.

BESS facilities store excess power from renewable energy technologies when demand is low. INQ