3 solar power plants set to operate this year

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan: Three solar power plants are set to begin operation this year, Vice Gov. Mark Ronald Lambino said on Friday, February 16.

Lambino identified the power plants as the ACEN’s 60-megawatt (MW) Santo Domingo Solar Power Project in San Manuel town, Aboitiz’s 94-MW Cayanga-Bugallon Solar Power Project in Bugallon town and the 3 Barracuda Energy Corp.’s 530-MW Bugallon Solar Project, also in Bugallon.

Once operational, ACEN’s solar power plant is expected to generate 94 gigawatt-hour of renewable energy per year, which is enough to power around 55,000 households.

The project is also expected to help Pangasinan’s local economy with the creation of an estimated 1,000 jobs during the plant’s construction phase in San Manuel, which is also the site of the San Roque Power Corp.’s hydroelectric plant.

For its part, Aboitiz’s solar power plant is expected to produce 147 million kilowatt-hour of clean energy every year, which can power 60,000 average Filipino homes for a year.

According to the Department of Energy (DoE) website, these solar power plants are among the 27 solar power projects that the DoE has awarded as of Dec. 31, 2023.

Of the 27 projects, only two are now in commercial operation, while the rest are in the “development” stage. These are the Santa Barbara Solar Project 1 and 2, which were built by One Manaoag Solar Corp. in the towns of Santa Barbara and Mapandan.

Once operational, the 27 solar power plants will have a combined potential capacity of 2,969.46 MW.

Lambino said that Bright Sun, another solar power company, is now in the process of acquiring land in Sual town for the construction of a solar farm.

Sual is also the site of Team Energy’s Sual Power Station, a 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant and the country’s largest.

“There is also this big company which is now in the process of acquiring 300 hectares for its 200MW power plant,” said Lambino.

Last year, three solar farm companies signed a joint development agreement for the establishment of 321-MW solar farms in the upland areas of the towns of Dasol and Infanta in western Pangasinan.

The companies were CSFirst Green Agri-Industrial Development Inc., URIT Ltd. Philippines Corp. and China Energy International Group Co.

The DoE said solar power plants are also presently being built in the towns of Burgos, Labrador, Aguilar, Villasis, Anda, Mabini, Binalonan, Sison, Umingan and Calasiao.