Cebu’s AppleOne builds solar park in Mindanao

Cebu-based property developer AppleOne Group is entering the energy market with the development of a solar facility in Mindanao.

The company on Friday introduced its newly established subsidiary Astronergy, engaged primarily in renewable energy.

Marking this fresh venture is a new solar park in Zamboanga del Norte, with the first phase having a capacity of 7 megawatts (MW).

Situated on a 23-hectare land, the project has 10,000 installed solar panels. It has also hinted at the possibility of increasing the capacity to up to 25 MW.

AppleOne said it chose Zamboanga del Norte given its access to land, easy connectivity to the grid system as well as potential for expansion.

Targeted to be up and running by September, AppleOne Group said Astronergy already has a power purchase agreement with Zamboanga del Norte Electric Cooperative.

“We’ve always been deliberate in where we grow the business,” said Ray Manigsaca, president and chief executive officer of AppleOne Group. It has had a strong presence in real estate before diving into health care and power sectors.

“Energy is a natural next step for us. We saw an opportunity to add value to our communities and support the country’s energy transition,” Manigsaca said.

The group said Astronergy is also open to partnering with foreign partners to speed up its growth in the market.

Manigsaca said Astronergy’s investment in the energy industry supports the current administration’s goal of renewables contributing more to the electricity generation mix. Currently, its share is at 22 percent. But the government hopes to scale this up to 35 percent by 2030.

To support this target, the Department of Energy (DOE) has been conducting a series of green energy auctions to attract more investments in the sector.

In 2024, the DOE said the industry saw “record-breaking capacity additions,” reaching 794.34 MW of new clean energy capacity. This even surpassed the combined 759.82 MW fired up in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The DOE said the additional capacities have led to “a more stable and secure energy supply for Filipino consumers.”