Philippines

The Philippines Department of Energy says the Maharlika Consortium – representing three companies – will develop two microgrid hybrid solar and diesel generator power plants for “underserved” communities located on Panlaitan island and the island of Mindoro.

The PV industry in Southeast Asia has come a long way since guest author Ragna Schmidt-Haupt, partner at Everoze, reported on solar financing innovation in the region more than a decade ago. In this article, she outlines five factors for success, the newest of which has the potential to become a game changer, and not only in Southeast Asia.

Off the back of recent legislative changes leading to ‘spurred’ solar PV development, combined with an extremely liberal market, a senior solar analyst from cleantech advisory company Apricum told pv magazine that the Philippines is ‘the place’ to rollout solar projects in Southeast Asia.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) has made a final investment decision and awarded contracts for the Hail and Ghasha offshore gas project, while Iveco and Hyundai have introduced the new Iveco Bus E-way H2 city bus.

Philippine government’s National Irrigation Administration revealed that two canal-top solar arrays for irrigation purposes were recently commissioned. It also said that 147 solar-powered irrigation projects in the country will be delivered by the end of the year, with 183 in the pipeline for 2024.

Malakoff and MMC Group have agreed to deploy 500 MW of solar in Malaysia, while Citicore has agreed to supply 7.5 MW of solar to utility Clark Electric Distribution Corp. in the Philippines.

Zonal Renewables plans to construct a new 100 MW floating solar project on a 90-hectare fishpond in the Philippines, in Cadiz, Negros Occidental province.

A group of researchers from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory assessed the potential for floating PV (FPV) plants at reservoirs and natural waterbodies in 10 Southeast Asian countries. It found that the overall FPV technical potential for the region ranges from 477 GW to 1,046 GW.

Acen, a unit of Ayala Group, says it plans to develop 1 GW of floating solar on the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines.

Through the procurement exercise, the GEA-BEAC allocated 1,870.8 MW of ground-mounted PV capacity and 90 MW of floating solar power. The selected developers will secure 20-year power purchase agreements.