SOLAR Philippines is encouraging distribution utilities to source their power requirements from solar power rather than coal plants.
The company as given electric utilities a plan to lessen consumer rates by 30 percent by replacing all planned coal plants with solar battery farms, Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste said.
“Our solar power costs at least 30 percent less than coal and can save Filipinos P100 billion per year,” Leviste said.
He added that in the 5,000 – megawatt (MW) Solar Plan, the location of the solar farms, integration of batteries for grid reliability, and cost of batteries and panels from the company’s power plant in Batangas are included.
The exact price, however, will be disclosed to a later date.
Solar Philippines added that solar power is now around P3 per kilowatt hour (kWh), or around P1/kWh in certain global markets, thus making it cheaper than coal.
It cited that China canceled 120 GW worth of coal projects, and completed 34 GW of solar in 2016.
“We can’t fault coal companies or policy-makers for not believing in solar. It’s the solar industry’s fault for not having shown that it can be cheaper and more reliable than coal. Now with our 5,000-MW solar plan and our first 24/7 solar-battery projects to be completed this year, we see no scenario where most planned coal projects will push through,” Leviste stressed.
Solar Philippines is eyeing a massive rise on the demand of solar rooftops now that they are also offering to finance to households and small businesses.
“Our 5,000-MW solar plan may consist more of going directly to rooftops, depending on the receptivity of utilities to solar farms,” Leviste said.
