Manila Bulletin

Yuchengco fast-tracks solar plant expansion

- By MYRNA M. VELASCO

The energy investment arm of the Yuchengco group is now advancing to commercial fruition the second phase 20.4-megawatt solar plant expansion at the Central Technopark in Tarlac City.

This was following the delivery of the required solar panels for the project by Chinese firm Trina Solar, which is a key milestone in the project's targeted completion in the coming months.

In a statement to the media, Yuchengco firm PetroSolar Corporatio­n (PetroSolar) indicated that "when completed by the second quarter of 2019, (the facility will add to the adjoining 50MW solar plant," which was also a developmen­t of the company under the government­underpinne­d feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentiviz­ed regime.

For the expansion venture, the Yuchengco group is eyeing that this will be lined up among those that could satiate the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) policy of the RE sector.

The solar farm, as noted, will be equipped with 61,200 pieces of Trina Solar Tallmax TSM PD14A model panels manufactur­ed in the company's facility in Changzhou, China.

"These panels have special reflecting film technology which means more light reflected back into the solar cell, so it can absorb more energy and generate more electricit­y," the company explained.

Trina Solar is the supplier of the panels, while Solenergy Systems Inc. is the project's engineerin­g, procuremen­t and constructi­on (EPC) contractor.

Relative to this venture, PetroSolar Vice President Francisco G. Delfin Jr noted that "Trina's on-time delivery of the solar panels from their China plant to our Tarlac-2 project site testifies to their focus on customers."

For the Chinese firm, Trina Solar Philippine­s Country Manager Junrhey Castro indicated that their involvemen­t in the Tarlac-2 solar farm installati­on reinforces their commitment "to further support PetroSolar's future projects."

He added that the "collaborat­ion is part of our long-running commitment to emerging markets in AsiaPacifi­c" - the Philippine­s itself is a very aggressive player in the renewable energy sector.

The country's RE sector is entering a new phase of competitio­n for industry players with targeted installati­on of more than 15,000MW of additional RE capacity in the next 10 years that shall be incentiviz­ed under the RPS policy regime.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines