Filinvest Group affiliate FDC Utilities Inc. partnered with French electric utility firm Engie to add solar installations in the Philippines and beef up its portfolio to become one of the major players in the Philippine energy sector.
“We are basically looking to expand our RE (renewable energy) portfolio asset with our partners as investors,” Bert Deprest, head of Renewable Energy Solutions of Engie Southeast Asia, was quoted in a Manila Bulletin report.
FDCUI owns 60 percent equity in the joint venture while Engie holds 40 percent, which is the approved shareholding that foreign firm could acquire in RE investments in the Philippines.
The joint partnership of the two firms currently has a 6.0 MW capacity in their solar portfolio.
According to Deprest, the next step will be utility-scale solar installments on targeted areas in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao. However, he did not specify the exact locations.
“We’re actively looking for utility scale, we also have a wide pipeline on that,” Deprest said
“I cannot give a figure yet to that but we all have different projects that we’re currently investigating for development,” he added.
Deprest further noted that the two firms are in the process of pre-commercial developments, with plans to cater commercial and industrial customers in the three regions.
“Engie is actually active in Luzon through our district cooling operations; then we basically have facility management operation in the Cebu area; and then our partner Filinvest is in Mindanao,” he said.
The Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is nearing its implementation phase next year, which will create an area of competition for the the solar investment in the country.
Other policies are also nearing its implementation stage such as the net metering system and the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP) which will give the Filipino consumers the choice to utilize green energy as the source for their energy needs.
