Nelson Morales

Marcos leads ceremonial energization of Batangas solar power plants

Article (news)

Job Manahan

TUY, Batangas – President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Monday led the opening of Batangas’ biggest solar power plants, seen to bring renewable energy to around 800,000 households by the end of the year. Citicore’s solar power plants – aside from being the biggest in the province at 400 hectares – are unique, according to Energy Secretary Sharon Garin. Garin said the one power plant has a capacity of 197 megawatts with 320 Megawatt-hour (MWh) Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). Citicore said this could power households even at night, considered a first in the Philippines. “This allows the solar facility to store and dispatch needed energy beyond the normal hours of solar (10 a.m.- 2 p.m.), gaining the ability to provide a baseload level of power,” Citicore said.“Nakita nyo, napakadami nilang battery para mag-store kung may sobra. So they can deliver 50 megawatts of baseload 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said the energy chief. “Ibabato to sa grid eh. So, dagdag to sa power ng buong Pilipinas, na stable na power, na hindi siya intermittent,” she added. In his speech, Marcos lauded Citicore for pushing for a hybrid agro-solar energy, as the power developer integrates agriculture and solar energy production – describing this as a symbol of the Philippines’ “openness to the future.”“Another new feature of this project is the fact that they use the same land to grow crops, to grow vegetables, to grow agricultural products, so that the land is categorized as agro energy, which is a new category altogether,” the President said. “Pinapakita natin sa buong mundo na ang solar power ay daan tungo sa pangmatagalan at malinis na paraan na pagbibigay liwanag sa ating mga tahanan at industriya,” he added. Citicore said it began its AgroSolar initiative back in 2021, which makes use of land for both solar and agricultural developments. Farmers, the firm said, are also given opportunities through employment “for their knowledge and expertise on local soil conditions.” Aside from this, Citicore shoulders the farmers’ planning and expenses on seeds and equipment. “We have 4 plants in Tuy, Batangas. We pioneered agrosolar because we recognize that we occupy a large agricultural land,” said Oliver Tan, Citicore’s president and CEO. “We maintain the agricultural intent of the land by partnering with farmers, we provide the land and the seed, we employ them, we draw high-value crops but we also act as an offtaker to augment their income and [keep] the agricultural intent of the land,” <div>RENEWABLE ENERGY </div>Edgar Saavedra, Citicore’s chairman, said they aim to power the entire country with pure renewable energy due to their “true baseload capacity.”In fact, Citicore said, their capital expenditure for this initiative is around P10 billion, with a promise of providing “cheap electricity” to Filipino households.“Traditionally, solar power has been limited by nature itself, it produces energy only when the sun is shining typically from 6 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon… but today with our integrated battery system, we change the reality, solar power is no longer just daytime power, with battery support, we can dispatch renewable energy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” Saavedra said in his speech.“This milestone is not just for Citicore renewable energy but for the entire country,” he said. Louis Ferrer, Citicore director, said that because of their batteries, they could baseload at 24 hours every day. “Kung walang araw, walang kuryente. Yung battery ang mag-susupply. Yung battery, pwede kang mag-control eh, kung kailan mo bubuksan o idi-dispatch o isasara. Yun ang beauty nun, said Saavedra. The Philippines targets to have 35 percent of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix by 2030, still far from the current 22 percent, according to Garin.“With the directive of the President in his first SONA na dapat 35 percent by 2030, talagang motivated hindi lang DOE kundi pati ang mga investors natin. We have so many investors, domestic and international, on solar power,” she said.

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. led the opening of Batangas’ biggest solar power plants.

President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. led the opening of Batangas’ biggest solar power plants.