Solar Philippines is set introduce the first battery equipped solar farm in the Philippines when it completes the first 50 megawatts (MW) of its solar project in Tarlac this year.
“Batteries will be the game-changer of 2017. We aim to complete our first such project by mid-year to show that the age of 24/7 solar is already here, and hopefully urge others to pause before investing in expensive fossil fuels,” Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste said.
The first phase of the Tarlac solar farm will be completed halfway through 2017. The remaining 150 MW is slated for completion in 2018.
“Even at today’s prices, solar-plus-storage is already cheaper than expensive diesel and natural gas. We aim to complete our first such project by mid-year, to show that the age of 24/7 solar is already here, and hopefully urge others to pause before investing in expensive fossil fuels,” Levsite added.
Solar Philippines is in talks with Tesla for a pilot solar farm with battery storage.
“These are exciting times in the power industry. Vertical integration is enabling us to make solar-plus-storage cost-competitive years ahead of schedule, accelerate the advent of sustainable energy, and make the Philippines a leader in solar energy worldwide,” Leviste said.
Utilities are panicking on the combination of PV solar and storage battery! Projections suggest that the combination will be a major force in electricity markets over the coming decade. Millions of customers around the country could be cost-effectively served by solar PV and batteries by 2020? — making them a “real, near and present” threat to traditional power providers. And that’s under a scenario that doesn’t take into account changes to business models or dramatic improvements to technology.
Millions of customers, commercial earlier than residential, representing billions of pesos in utility revenues will find themselves in a position to cost-effectively defect from the grid if they so choose. Note that even at present more and more commercial establishments are turning to PV solar even without battery storage as high electricity cost make the shift more feasible.
The potential to defect will realistically be there for a growing number of people — putting more than billions of billions at risk for utilities. Utilities are terrified as shown with their latest announcements of going for solar and renewable for that matter. It’s certainly not mainstream, but the solar-storage option seems to be coming. Utilities may be nervous, but storage providers are thrilled at the prospect of leading solar companies embracing solar. Who needs coal fired power plants? Who needs costly submarine power transmission lines?