Sunday, December 19, 2010

Lopez unit puts up big solar facility

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:56:00 12/19/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Lopez-led First Philec Solar Corp. has put up the country’s first rooftop-installed solar facility of “utility scale,” a significant proof of the viability of solar energy in the country.

According to the Philippine Solar Power Association (PSPA), the opening of the facility demonstrated how solar electricity could be easily deployed within a few months’ time. It also showed the adaptability of solar plants to grid conditions and how solar energy could be used for industrial and residential purposes.

The PSPA claimed that this was the first solar facility installed in a rooftop that could generate at a so-called utility scale, meaning 100 kilowatts (kW) and above. Similar facilities have earlier been installed on rooftops, but these were mainly used for rural electrification in Mindanao, which meant that the capacities were below 1 kW, explained PSPA president Tetchi Cruz-Capellan.

For household use, such solar facilities could only generate roughly 10 kW, she added.

Located within the First Philippine Industrial Park in Tanauan, Batangas, the First Philec solar facility could generate 180 kW in additional grid capacity.

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