Jan 24 2011
Eco-Merge Philippines, a Filipino-Japanese venture group, plans to invest P 7.4 billion for solar power facilities in the country during the next three year period. According to Edgar Morada, President of Eco-Merge, the company was planning to set up solar facilities at four areas, Zamboanga, Agusan del Norte, Negros Occidental and Camarines Sur.
These projects would generate a total of 41 MW of power. He further noted that a company would have to invest $3 to $4 million to generate 1 MW of electricity from solar resources and hence for generating 41 MW the company would be investing P 7.4 billion or $164 million. He also mentioned that solar investment was only a start as the company’s goal was renewable energy and had plans of diversifying their Renewable Energy (RE) portfolio.
The first project was to be the installation at Camarines Sur as Camsur’s Governor was offering a lot of cooperation for the RE venture and was also hoping that Camsur would be the first green province in the country. The 11 MW Camsur Solar Project would also involve the Provincial Government. The electricity generated would be purchased by the Camsur Watersports Complex (CWC). Morada disclosed that feasibility studies were to be conducted by Snowy Mountain Engineering (SMEC), and they would also provide engineering consultancy services. SMEC, which is an Australian-based company has been providing its services for giants such as Aboitiz Power and First Gen for a long time and was also one of the pioneering engineering and development consultancy firms especially in the field of new and renewable energy.
Eco-Merge plans on conducting a ground-breaking ceremony on the 11th of November, 2011, for the Camsur Project and estimates that commercial operations would begin six months after i.e. in 2012. Currently, the country’s biggest solar facility was a 1 MW plant operated by the Cagayan Electric Power & Light Company.
Source: Eco-Merge Philippines