Leviste-led Solar Philippines Batangas Baseload Corporation (SPBBC) offered power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) 200 megawatt (MW) baseload capacity or round-the-clock electricity supply for 20 years.
The SPBBC offer was granted an “original proponent status” and will be subjected to a “challenge” in a competitive selection process (CSP) to be spearheaded by the third party bids and awards committee (TPBAC) of Meralco.
The 200MW baseload power proposal of SPBBC will require installation of at least 1,800 megawatts of solar capacity, and corresponding1,800 megawatt-hours (MWh) of battery storage systems.
The proposed power supply agreement (PSA) will be for a stretch of 20 years and the contract capacity will have a fixed rate of P4.65 per kilowatt hour (kWh), inclusive of value added taxes (VAT) and other charges.
Solar Philippines indicated it will be supplying Meralco with electricity that will be cheaper by
20-percent to 40-percent if compared to the prevailing cost of fossil fuel-based generation in the country’s power system.
SPBBC further vouched that its project will be the “first large-scale solar-battery baseload project” – and could also be a ‘test case’ or ‘proof-of-concept’ in the long-term claim of RE developers that they can dislodge conventional fossil fuel technologies in the baseload genre of power plant developments.
The proponent-firm expounded that “compared to other solar-battery projects that would operate for 12 hours a day, including others being developed by Solar Philippines, this project would operate on a 24-hour basis, and replace the need for a 200 MW coal power plant.”
According to Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste, this leg of his company’s string of RE investments will serve as an “opportunity to show that solar with batteries can deliver cost-competitive baseload power.”
The young businessman also showers Meralco with praises “for leading the market in the adoption of renewable energy, and look forward to realizing this project for the benefit of consumers.”
Solar Philippines specified that its unsolicited bid submitted to Meralco targets to “supply reliable power in all weather conditions – with a plant designed to produce enough electricity even during cloudy days, and with excess during sunny days able to be sold into the wholesale electricity spot market.”
The proponent-firm, nevertheless, qualified that SPBBC “may also source backup power from a portfolio of other plants to ensure maximum availability of supply.”
If reckoned on the entire portfolio of blueprinted RE projects of Solar Philippines, it was emphasized that this new baseload RE venture will complete the 9.0 terawatt-hours (TWh) of power supply contracts that it targeted to corner.
