Philippines

TotalEnergies and Philippines-based developer Nextnorth have started construction of a 440 MWp solar plant in Isabela province after reaching financial close on $300 million of international bank financing.

Figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency say the Philippines’ cumulative solar capacity neared 3.9 GW by the end of last year. Deployment rates look set to increase in the coming years, led by a gigawatt-sized pipeline of projects procured under the country’s green energy auctions.

The country’s seventh green energy auction is set to procure rooftop, ground-mounted and floating solar projects across the Philippines, with increased allocation in Mindanao. The Department of Energy plans to release the auction’s terms of reference during the second quarter of this year.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has formally registered Genuine Renewable Energy and Eco-Friendly Energy Network Corp. (GREEENC) as an ecozone enterprise to manufacture and export PV modules, with the European Union as the primary target market.

The two major developers plan to establish a joint venture company with equal ownership that will be their sole vehicle for building, owning and operating both existing and future solar, storage and wind projects across nine Asian countries.

The Department of Energy of the Philippines says it is fast tracking 12 solar projects for grid entry in April in response to changes in the global oil markets caused by conflict in the Middle East.

Department of Energy (DOE) order sets out new rules for mandatory energy storage, including a minimum capacity of at least 20% of the generating plant’s installed capacity. DOE also calls for energy storage systems (ESS) installations to have grid supporting capabilities, such as grid-forming inverters to help stabilize voltage and frequency.

The first phase of the MTerra solar project in the Philippines, set to be the world’s largest solar-plus-storage site once completed, has achieved initial synchronization and energization to the Luzon grid. Project developers are anticipating the project to being exporting power by the end of the month.

The Philippines has unveiled plans for its next four green energy auctions, one of which will focus on rooftop solar and solar-plus-storage in selected areas of the country. Another forthcoming auction will concentrate on solar on canals, agrisolar and solar on stilts over fish ponds.

The government of the Philippines has announced a series of reforms to its net-metering scheme, including faster permitting, the introduction of multi-site and aggregate net-metering, as well as allowing qualified end users to retain ownership of Renewable Energy Certificates for trade on the Renewable Energy Market.