PetroSolar to inaugurate 50-MW solar facility in Tarlac next week

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Corporate&title=petrosolar-to-inaugurate-50-mw-solar-facility-in-tarlac-next-week&id=123626

PETROSOLAR CORP. is set to inaugurate next week its 50-megawatt (MW) solar power facility in Tarlac, adding to the clean energy portfolio of parent firm PetroGreen Energy Corp. that includes a wind farm in Aklan and a geothermal plant in Batangas.

The company on Thursday said that it had completed grid synchronization and commissioning tests, paving the way for the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission to validate the results.

“They have completed their inspections,” said a representative from PetroSolar’s corporate communication office, adding that the company is now awaiting its certificate of eligibility for the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme.

The solar plant was synchronized to the Luzon grid in January and started the delivery of power from the 55-hectare facility within the Central Technopark in Tarlac City as part of the commissioning test.

PetroSolar is a joint-venture firm of PetroGreen, with a 56% share, and EEI Power Corp., with 44%. PetroGreen also has a 65% stake in Maibarara Geothermal, Inc., which is undertaking the 12-MW expansion of a geothermal project in Batangas. It has a 40% stake in PetroWind Energy, Inc., which has wind power facility in Nabas, Aklan.

PetroGreen, a 90% owned subsidiary of PetroEnergy, was created in 2010 to insulate the publicly listed parent company’s core oil business from its renewable energy ventures.

Thus far, PetroSolar’s Tarlac solar farm is the largest single solar power facility completed in the country. Based on the Energy department’s latest data, the country has a total of 102-MW installed solar capacity, of which 75 MW is classified as “dependable.” Both installed and dependable power makes up less than 1% of Philippine total capacity as of 2015.

The Energy department has issued the company’s service contract on March 19, 2015. It secured its declaration of commerciality on Sept. 24, 2015.

PetroSolar has engaged several partners for the Tarlac project, including Syntegra Solar for engineering, and German firm Conergy for the solar farm design, supply and delivery of solar panels and related equipment.

Its affiliate, PetroWind Energy, Inc., secured last year a guaranteed payment of P7.40 per kilowatt-hour for the electricity produced in its 36-MW wind power facility in Nabas, Aklan.

The FIT system offers cost-based compensation to renewable energy generators, providing price certainty and long-term contracts that help finance investments in clean energy. Solar projects are guaranteed to receive payment of P8.69 for each kilowatt-hour they generate.