posted July 13, 2016 at 11:20 pm by Alena Mae S. Flores
The Energy Regulatory Commission
issued a certificate of compliance to PetroSolar Corp.’s 50 megawatt Tarlac-1
Solar Power Project, ensuring that it will enjoy feed-in-tariff rates for 20
years.
PetroSolar said in a statement the
approval followed ERC’s grant of provisional authority to operate as a
feed-in-tariff eligible power plant on March 30.
The Tarlac-1 solar facility covers
55 hectares of industrial land within Central Technopark in Tarlac City.
The project is the first solar plant
of PetroSolar, a joint-venture firm 56 percent-owned by PetroGreen Energy Corp.
and 44 percent-owned by EEI Power Corp.
PetroGreen is the renewable energy
holding company of publicly-listed PetroEnergy Resources Corp.
“ERC’s COC-FIT approval for our
Tarlac-1 solar facility testifies to our satisfactory compliance to all
technical, organizational, legal and financial requirements to operate a solar
power plant. As important, it guarantees FIT payments to PetroSolar from Feb.
10, 2016 to Feb. 9, 2036 at the approved FIT rate of P8.69 per
kilowatt-hour,” PetroEnergy president Milagros Reyes said.
“Along with the FIT payments for our
36-MW Nabas wind facility and the long-term energy supply contract for our
base-load 20MW Maibarara-1 geothermal power station and its on-going 12-MW
expansion [Maibarara-2], these assured revenue streams boost PERC’s expansion
from our Gabon oil production towards renewable energy development and power
generation,” Reyes said.
She said the company should continue
to assess new investment opportunities in the country’s renewable energy
industry under the current leadership of Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
PetroGreen vice president and chief
operating officer Francisco Delfin Jr. said the Tarlac-1 solar project attained
80-percent electro-mechanical completion on Dec. 23, 2015 and started
delivering power to the Luzon grid on Jan. 27, 2016 ahead of the March 15, 2016
deadline for the 500-MW solar FIT allocation.
“After the DOE granted our project
the certificate of endorsement for FIT-eligibility last March 7, 2016, ERC
approved PetroSolar’s PAO-FIT on March 30 officially making us qualified to
receive FIT payments from Transco [National Transmission Corp.], through a
renewable energy payment agreement that took effect on May 10, 2016,” he said.
Delfin said the certificate of
compliance for feed-in-tariff extended the FIT payments for 20 years.
“Not only will this assure our
lenders and investors but it also ensures PetroSolar’s remittance of the
national wealth royalty and ER 1-94 payments for the benefit of our host
communities as long as we are generating power,” PetroSolar said.
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