EDC expands RE venture into solar rooftop installations

by Myrna Velasco Share36 Tweet4 Share0 Email5 Share107

http://www.mb.com.ph/edc-expands-re-venture-into-solar-rooftop-installations/

EDC, GAISANO SOLAR ROOFTOP DEAL – Energy Development Corporation (EDC) recently signed its first solar rooftop Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Gaisano Capital. The 3400 solar panels to be installed in Gaisano Mall in La Paz, Iloilo City will provide up to 50% of the mall’s daytime load through clean solar energy and enable Gaisano Capital to offset 750 metric tons of annual CO2 emissions. The two parties also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pursue solar opportunities for other branches in Panay Island. Sealing the deal (L-R) are EDC President & COO Richard Tantoco, Gaisano Capital VP for Operations Edmund Gaisano Jr. and First Gen Energy Solutions VP Carlos Lorenzo Vega.

Solar rooftop installation is the expanded renewable energy (RE) venture being navigated by Lopez-led Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and First Gen Energy Solutions Inc.

In a statement to the media, the two affiliate firms noted that they have tied up with Gaisano Capital malls on the installation of solar panels on the rooftop of the latter’s commercial complex in La Paz, Iloilo City.

As set out in their deal, “EDC will construct and install 3,400 solar panels to provide Gaisano Capital Iloilo with 975kW (kilowatts) of power.”

The company has expounded that “the solar rooftop installation has the ability to provide up to 50-percent of the mall’s daytime load through clean solar energy,” that will then result in 750 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions avoidance annually for the establishment.

On the part of Gaisano Capital, its Vice President for Operations Edmund Gaisano has emphasized that they are embracing “the opportunity to provide added value to customers,” in this case by having cleaner source of energy from solar.

“We have been interested in solar panels for some time now. We always look for ways to make our operations more environmentally responsible and serve our customers better,” Gaisano added.

Additionally, EDC and Gaisano Capital have inked a memorandum of understanding on pursuing “solar opportunities for (the latter’s) other branches in Panay island.”

For EDC, Tantoco similarly noted that they are already “in talks with other potential customers, mostly commercial enterprises for its solar rooftop business.”

The Lopez firm is already into solar projects, but its kick-off point has been the ground-mounted installations in Ilocos Norte that have qualified for feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentives.

EDC President and Chief Operating Officer Richard B. Tantoco has enthused that “at the rate climate change is affecting the most vulnerable countries including the Philippines, we should be shifting to cleaner and more efficient technologies that manage environmental, health and social impacts better.”

The Lopez group is the only energy player in the Philippines that has been leaning its investment landscape on cleaner energy options. Its subsidiary EDC is into 100-percent renewable energy developments.

“EDC has been advocating for the shift to clean and renewable energy sources in support of the Philippine commitment to the United Nations to reduce carbon emissions by 70-percent by 2030,” the company stressed.