A korean firm is investing P2 billion for the development of a 50 MW solar power farm deemed to be the first large-scale renewable energy (RE) generation source in Bacolod City.
President of Amatera Renewable Energy Corporation Mary Grace Helene Buhain with TPC Construction Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on January 17.
They said the Korean company had tapped them for the energy generation project.
Buhain said they are using the 74 hectares in their family-owned property in Barangay Vista Alegre in order to give way for the development, in terms of revenues and employment.
“Except consultants from Korea, all will be locally-hired workers,” she said, adding this is the first energy generation venture of Amatera, a Bacolod-based company, in the entire country.
President of TPC Construction Corporation Charles Ji said the MOU signing is just the beginning of “beautiful” partnership and collaboration between the two companies.
“We are thankful for the trust given to our company, to work together for this project,” Ji added.
The project will have a lease contract renewable for 25 years. Construction is expected to start next year.
The firm aims to begin commercial operation by 2020, same as the completion of the Cebu-Negros-Panay 20-kilovolt (kV) Backbone Project of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
Amatera’s technical consultant Engineer Hanshel Layaoen said they will be waiting for the signal of the NGCP as to when they can start energizing the new transmission line.
Layaoen said the problem is the congestion, without the transmission utility’s backbone project the construction cannot move forward.
The NGCP said the project will contribute an additional transmission capacity of 800MW between Negros and Cebu.
“Just in case the NGCP have it completed by 2020, then it would take like a year to finish the project,” he said. They also said they will be needing 100 employees in the technical and labor side, and 300 workers if the construction will be rushed in six to 10 months.
Buhain said the start of construction would also depend on how long the processing of other necessary permits would take.
Buhaid said she hoped that the NGCP could deliver on the schedule set so they start the construction in six-month time.
Buhain added both parties will decide in terms of where to deliver power.
“The vision of Amatera goes beyond business, but the social responsibility to benefit everyone,” she added.
Acting mayor of Bacolod El Cid Familiaran also said that solar does not only provide alternatives for the source of energy but also gives the people of Bacolod more than that.
“This is the first large scale solar energy source in Bacolod and a step towards a greener and more sustainable city,” he said, adding that it opens doors for more opportunities while saving the environment.
Also present in the MOU signing were other top officials of TPC Construction Corp.
For Amatera its representatives include: chief operations officer Jose Maria Leandro Norberto De Leon, also the barangay chairman of Vista Alegre, and landowner Teresa Lacson, among others.
