First Gen cues initial $25-m outlay for solar

Lopez-led First Gen Corp. plans to invest up to $25 million in the first phase of a new solar project in Batangas.

Emmanuel Antonio Singson, First Gen chief finance officer, said the budget would fund the ongoing construction of the solar plant, with the first phase designed to have about 50 megawatts (MW).

The official said the first phase of the project may be completed by next year.

Equipping the project with an additional 100-MW capacity is in the pipeline, First Gen president and chief operating officer Francis Giles Puno.

“This 150-MW solar facility will allow us to provide a renewable energy supply to Batelec and the adjacently located First Philippine Industrial Park with over 150 world-class locators,” he said earlier.

Puno was referring to the local distribution utility, Batangas Electric Cooperative.

He said the project would signal First Gen’s “start of build out of solar.”

First Gen, he said, has been ramping up feasibility studies to accelerate its wind and solar commitments.

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“We have to increase our investment in solar and wind just to be at the same level of electricity production as a geothermal plant,” Puno told reporters recently.

“In the meantime, the feasibility for wind is also there. So we’re hoping to expand also in Burgos, in Ilocos Norte, and then in other areas where we have concessions,” he added.

Through its subsidiary Energy Development Corp. (EDC), First Gen has a portfolio of 1,480.19 MW. This accounts for almost 20 percent of the country’s installed renewable energy capacity. EDC’s primary source is geothermal, with 1185.40 MW.