MERALCO Powergen Corporation (MGen), through its renewable energy (RE) arm MGen Renewable Energy, Inc. (MGreen), has acquired an additional 20% equity in Powersource First Bulacan Solar, Inc. (PFBSI), raising its total stake to 60%.
The said investment is part of MGreen’s target of building its RE portfolio worth 1,000 megawatts (MW), the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) said in its disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. MGreen previously owned 40% of PFBSI.
MGen is the power generation arm of MERALCO, the country’s largest power distributor. PFBSI, meanwhile, is the company that runs the solar farm.
The Php4.25-billion project, which has a capacity of 50MW and covers land area of 72 hectares, is expected to begin commercial operations in the first quarter of this year, said MGen President and CEO Rogelio Singson.
Construction of the project began in December 2019 and was supposed to first begin operations by the end of last year, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. Other than work stoppage, Singson noted that the lockdowns delayed the movements of the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and solar panels coming from China. The project was nearly 75% complete as of October 2020.
Once completed, PFBSI will sell energy to MERALCO under a previously approved power supply agreement.