Philippines

With senators having called for plantation-wide solar powered pumping projects, funded by public money, the country’s National Irrigation Administration has agreed and said it wants to embrace floating solar facilities too.

The 40MW/60MWh Alaminos Energy Storage system is now connected to the 120MW Alaminos solar park. Both facilities were built by renewable energy developer AC Energy.

The Philippines’ Department of Energy hopes to allocate 1,260 MW of solar through the procurement exercise.

The first 20MW/20MWh battery energy storage system in the 470MW/470MWh portfolio Fluence is deploying for Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corp has started serving the island nation’s electricity network.

Through the procurement exercise, the power utility is seeking proposals to deploy around 600MW of capacity that will have to start providing power in February 2026, and another 250MW to begin commercial operations in February 2027.

The list of the eligible renewable energy producers also includes 36 hydropower facilities totaling 412.8MW, 36 biomass schemes with an aggregate capacity of 264.8MW, seven wind farms with a total power of 409.9MW, and six geothermal power plants totaling 218.5MW.

Filipino conglomerate San Miguel Corp aims to complete 1GW of battery storage projects this year to make way for the integration of some 3GW of intermittent renewable energy generation.

The solar park is part of a 1GW portfolio of unsubsidized PV projects. Completion is scheduled for 2023.

Advances in solar power and other clean energy technologies have failed to keep up with demand for electricity as economies rebound from the Covid crisis and China and India’s fossil fuel appetite will ensure the world stays well short of what is needed for a net zero 2050 for at least the next three years.

Developer Solar Philippines is preparing to issue up to 2.7 billion shares, for an estimated $0.02 per share, in the project company which will develop its 500 MW-plus Peñaranda project on Luzon.