Korea company Bosung Powertec will begin operations on its one-megawatt (MW) solar farm in Ilocos Norte on Monday under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.
The $3 million solar farm is the company’s first renewable energy project, and can generate up to 1.6 megawatt hours, and is expected to generate a P11 million revenue, Bosung president Moon Jiang said.
“The break-even point for recoup for our investment is assumed to be at 12 years. We will then turn over all the facilities to INEC free of charge and as scheduled by mutual agreement,” Jiang said.
The farm has 3, 240 sheets of 310 modules, a 950-kilowatt inverter a 1, 000 kilovolt-amps step up transformer and a high voltage switch gear.
Generated energy will be transmitted to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
With the operation of the solar farm and the two-MW hydro power plant in Pagudpod, Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) manager Felino Herbert Agdigos said they will become less dependent on coal-based energy, allowing them to minimize their carbon footprints.
“This will definitely improve voltage quality in the province because of the project’s proximity to our distribution system which will enhance system efficiency and power quality,” Agdigos added.
National Electrification Administration’s Ferdinand Villareal said that INEC is the first electric cooperative (EC) to venture into renewable energy (RE) and has encouraged other ECs to follow to achieve the right balance between renewable and other sources of energy.
“Solar farms such as this have the purpose of augmenting power supply requirements of the ECs during daytime and addresses the demand during peak hours serving as a peak shaving solution,” he said.
Ilocos Norte also has 7.9 MW farm in Burgos town established by the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and a 20 MW power plant by Soleg Philippines in Currimao Town.