Vivant unit, JDC tie up for solar project

PROPERTY developer JEG Development Corp. (JDC) and Vivant Corenergy Inc. (Corenergy) on Thursday announced their partnership for a solar power project.

Corenergy and JDC launched the 37kwp (kilowatt peak) rooftop solar installation that powers the daytime energy demand of 22-storey JEG Tower, One Acasia, the first commercial high-rise building in Cebu.

JEG General Manager Tomas Tan said during an online briefing that the JEG did not have to spend for the project.

“That’s what makes it attractive for us as developers that we don’t put any capex [capital expenditure] into the facility. So, it’s actually Corenergy builds the plant for us... and we’re just buying power from them at a much cheaper rate than the utility provider is charging us. No capex for us on our side,” he said.

The JEG tower grid-tied solar project is expected to produce 77 megawatt hour of energy annually while avoiding 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide emission each year. It utilizes 93 units of 405Wp Canadian solar PV modules and 27kw Solaredge grid-tied inverter.

Also, the building is fueled by a 37 kwp grid-tied solar PV system designed to offset the electricity consumed from the grid by converting the available solar energy to serve daytime energy demand. The solar panels power the ground floor up to the sixth-floor common area of the tower.

Al Douglas Villaos, Corenergy President, said the solar project will immediately deliver financial benefits in terms of cost saving to JDC. “Our aspiration is replicate the same arrangement in future projects of JDC… If there is an opportunity to deploy new solar projects for JDC, we will definitely do it.”

The JEG tower solar project is the fifth operating distributed solar project of Corenergy in Cebu.

JEG, according to its President Marko Sarmiento, is interested to collaborate with Corenergy for its future projects. “Definitely, we will look into doing more of these types of partnerships with Corenergy.”

Tan said a fixed-price arrangement with Corenergy for the supply of solar power is more favorable because “it’s stable unlike the utility company which gives us fluctuating prices.”

“Our rate in Corenergy is fixed for the next 20 years. It translates to our tenants getting a lower rate,” he added.