Razon's Prime Infra to build world's largest solar farm

Ports and casino tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. is planning to build the world’s largest solar power facility in a bid to boost the renewable energy supply in the Philippines.

In a statement, Razon’s infrastructure firm Prime Infrastructure Holdings Inc. (Prime Infra) said the solar power facility will have a capacity of 2,500 megawatts (MW) to 3,500MW and a battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity of 4,000 megawatt hour (MWh) to 4,500MWh.

Prime Infra said the solar farm project will be undertaken by Terra Solar Philippines, a unit of Terra Renewables Holdings Inc. -- a renewable power subsidiary under Prime Infra’s control -- in partnership with Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc.

Terra Solar will then supply 850MW to offtaker Manila Electric Company (Meralco) from the planned solar power facility.

The agreed power supply will be delivered to Meralco in two tranches — 600 MW will be available by 2026, while the remaining 250 MW will be supplied by 2027.

Citing Terra Solar’s projection, Prime Infra said the 850MW supply can displace an annual consumption of approximately 1.4 million tons of coal or 930,000 liters of oil.

This means reduction in both greenhouse gas emissions and import dependency for the country from 2026 to 2046, it said.

“We, at Prime Infra, are delighted to move forward with Meralco on this record- breaking project that highlights solar power’s important contribution to strengthening the country’s energy security -- solar, which is normally looked at for peaking, is now being made available by Terra Solar to answer Meralco’s mid-merit requirement, thereby addressing both the need for additional capacity and compliance with Renewable Portfolio Standards,” said Guillaume Lucci, president and CEO of Prime Infra.

“Prime Infra finds a sweet spot to pursue solar as we take advantage of the steep decline in installation costs over the past decade and the improved battery energy storage system technology that allows us to build an economically critical and socially relevant infrastructure at a scale the world has never seen before,” said Lucci.

Prime Infra said the development is seen as a boon to Meralco, which will increase its renewable energy sourcing as mandated by the DOE’s RPS.

Under the RPS, companies are required to source a minimum percentage of their energy portfolio from renewable energy sources.  —LBG, GMA News