Philippines project for Conergy
Conergy has announced that it will design and build a new 8MW solar power plant in the Philippines, its second major contract in the Pacific archipelago. The deal will enable Conergy to complete by year end at least 30MW of projects qualifying for government incentives to encourage investment in the country's first 50MW of utility-scale solar.
The new plant will be built 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the capital Manila, on the country's biggest island of Luzon, for RASLAG Corp. (RASLAG), the renewable energy arm of generation company Angeles Power, Inc. (API). Once connected in the fourth quarter of this year, the plant's 30,000 panels will produce enough electricity to supply 4,800 local homes. The size of the contract has not been disclosed.
Marc Lohoff, CEO for Asia Pacific, Conergy, said: "Conergy is proud to be working with RASLAG to deliver much-needed new power capacity in the Philippines. The project will further demonstrate Conergy's leading position in building solar plants diligently, on time and to a high quality standard in South East Asia, securing clean electricity for homes and businesses at prices that are affordable and stable."
The deal gives Conergy, already one of the market leaders for utility-scale solar plants in Thailand, a strong early position in the Philippines, where a wave of investment is tackling historic infrastructure challenges. Forecast by Goldman Sachs to become the largest economy in South East Asia by 2050, dependency on fuel imports, in particular of diesel fuel oil, and a weak grid contribute to some of the highest electricity prices in the world, fuel smuggling and frequent blackouts, constraining already strong economic growth of 6-8% per year.
The Philippine government therefore targets adding 16.2GW of new renewable power capacity in the next fifteen years, equivalent to the country's entire generating capacity today. At the end of April, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that 1.1GW of new utility-scale solar projects were planned, with the first built by Conergy in the Western Visayas region, and switched on by President Benigno Aquino III last month.
Alexander Lenz, President for Conergy Asia & Middle East, Conergy, said: "There are huge opportunities for solar to expand access to electricity and reduce energy imports in the Philippines. With high and predictable levels of sunlight, solar is already competitive with traditional power generation in many parts of the country. It's early days and there are logistical challenges, but Conergy has excellent relationships with partners across the archipelago, which allow us to select and successfully develop the right projects."
