CONSTRUCTION of the P213-billion Terra Solar project is on track and should be around 80-90 percent done by the end of September 2024, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said.
The solar farm project, located in the Nueva Ecija-Bulacan area, broke ground last January and is envisioned to have 3,500 megawatts (MW) of solar panels and a storage system capable of handling 4,000 megawatt-hours of solar power.
“Actually, I would say it’s around 60 to 67 percent completed as of now, so I think by the end of September, it’s going to be about 80 to 90 percent completed already,” Pangilinan said late Friday after announcing the entry of UK-based investment firm Actis.
Meralco’s wholly-owned Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) has signed a strategic partnership with Actis for the latter to acquire a 40-percent stake in Terra Solar Philippines, Inc. (TSPI) for P34 billion. Meralco unit SP New Energy Corp. previously wholly owned TSPI.
“There’s a transmission element to connect the power plant to the grid… and there’s likely to be two contractors, with one of each working on phase one and phase two of the project,” Pangilinan also said.
“For the transmission alone, we are down to the shortlist, and that’s Fujian Electric Power Engineering Company Ltd. and Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp.”
MGen President and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said they were currently considering offers for the project’s solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and energy storage systems.
“The ones who submitted proposals for the panels are Power Construction Corporation of China and China Energy Engineering Corp., while for energy storage, we have Huawei, Sungrow and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,” he said.
The project, touted to be the world’s largest renewables and energy storage project, is expected to be fully operational by 2027.
Meralco shares fell by 0.25 percent to P405 each on Friday, while SPNEC stocks finished up 0.77 percent at P1.31 apiece.
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