Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
The 100-megawatt peak
(MWp) Subic solar farm of Filipino firm Jobin-SQM, Inc. (JSI) has been
authorized to connect and wheel its capacity to the Luzon grid via the
230-kilovolt (kV) substation of the National Grid Corporation of the
Philippines (NGCP) in Subic, Zambales.
The developer-firm JSI
of the solar facility is a subsidiary of Emerging Power, Inc. (EPI), the power
generation company of the Zamora group, which is also into mining and banking
among other businesses.
The nature of approval
rendered by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) warrants the installation of
a “dedicated point-to-point limited facilities to connect the 100MWp power
project to the Luzon grid.”
It has been noted that
by transmitting the solar facility’s electricity output, it will not only
increase electricity supply to the grid but such will also support the
government’s bid to hike the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix.
The total project cost had been pegged at P1.034 billion – comprising of the
connection assets of JSI at P774.029 million; and the needed upgrade and
modification of the NGCP Subic substation costing P260.439 million.
On ensuring the
technical integrity of the connection facility, JSI has commissioned MN Electro
Industrial Supply & Services as the third party entity that had undertaken
system impact study “to determine the technical feasibility of connecting the
100MW solar power plant to the Luzon grid.”
The company has
similarly engaged the services of S.L. Development Construction Corporation and
Harty Inc. for the supply, construction and installation of the prescribed
connection facilities.
In the ERC ruling, it
specified that while the assets connected to the NGCP substation in Subic also
serve other customers like the Subic-Enron power plant, such cannot be
considered a dedicated point-to-point facility.
Nevertheless, the power industry regulator qualified that the facilities
intended for the 100MWp solar plant of JSI can be single-handedly classified as
dedicated point-to-point facility as underpinned by the provisions of the Electric
Power Industry Reform Act.
The ERC thus emphasized
that “as to the assets connecting JSI’s 100 MWp solar power plant to NGCP’s
Subic substation, these assets are dedicated point-to-point limited facilities
qualified under Section 9 of EPIRA.”
The regulatory agency
further decreed that “if these assets are removed or cut, only JSI will be
disconnected since these are solely used by JSI’s generating facility.”
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