Solar Philippines plans to expand manufacturing capacity to 2,000MW
Solar Philippines will be expanding the capacity of its solar manufacturing facility in Sto Tomas, Batangas to 2,000 megawatts (MW) equivalent by next year from existing capacity of 750MW at its formal inauguration this week.
According to Solar Philippines Leandro Leviste, the expanded base of its solar production facility will cater to both its targeted markets locally and overseas.
At its high-end target, he indicated that the equivalent volume of exports coming from the Batangas solar production lines would reach as much as R20 billion. That will be an increase from R10-billion target this year.
On market expansion, Leviste noted that countries in the Southeast Asian region will be on top – primarily Indonesia and Myanmar.
“Within this year, we will complete pilot projects in Indonesia, Myanmar and perhaps a few more countries with a lot of off-grid potential,” he said. Leviste emphasized that his company is inclined on providing energy access even to areas that are seen unviable by other providers – whether that would be in the Philippines or other countries in the region.
“In many of these places, international companies do not want to take a bet on rural areas with poor credit,” he said.
Leviste added “we're participating in a lot of bids and other opportunities in Southeast Asia, and we believe by next year, we will complete at least 200MW in Southeast Asia.”
The young businessman’s promise to prospective customers of energy produced from their solar facilities’ rollout would be at least 30-percent cost savings in their electricity bills.
He said solar installation can already be done massively, both in on-grid and off-grid domains of the Philippines, because of the precipitously sliding cost of the technology on a global scale.
“This comes as solar panel costs have fallen 90 percent over the last 10 years; and 50 percent in the last three (3) years alone, prompting countries like China and India to source majority of their new power requirements from renewables,” he stressed.
Leviste added the company’s factory “enabled us to generate the lowest cost power in the history of the Philippines,” with him asserting that the lowest bid it matched to an offer to major utility firm like Manila Electric Company (Meralco) had been at R2.99 per kilowatt-hour.
He emphasized that an average family paying R3,000 on their electric bills would likely see reduction on their costs by R2,000 a month.
The dilemma on intermittency could also be addressed by coupling solar technology with battery storage, hence, ensuring round-the-clock electricity supply for the end-consumers.