Filtered By: Topstories
News

San Miguel to build solar farm to power Bulacan airport


Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has announced plans to construct a 200-megawatt solar farm in its Bulacan property to help power its P740-billion New Manila International Airport project.

SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang on Wednesday said the facility will be undertaken through energy arm San Miguel Global Power.

The company did not provide details on the cost and the timeline of the undertaking but said it will come with a battery energy storage facility that can store power when generation is high but power consumption is low.

"The battery storage will be a viable solution to balancing electricity loads and storing unstable energy supply coming from the sun and other renewable sources of energy which we are looking to utilize for the airport," he said in an emailed statement.

"Our approach has always been to use cutting-edge technology to shift sustainability to better fuels while balancing the needs of our country, economy, and people for affordable, reliable traditional fuel-based power. We continue to invest in technologies so that our power facilities would have as little impact as possible on the environment," he added.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) in August 2019 formally awarded the contract to build and operate the Bulacan airport project to San Miguel Holdings Corp., the infrastructure unit of SMC.

Both parties signed the concession deal for the New Manila International Airport on September 18, a month and four days after SMC received the notice of award for the contract.

The project involves the construction, operation, and maintenance of a 2,500-hectare airport in Bulakan, Bulacan. The development includes a passenger terminal building with airside and landside facilities, an airport toll road, and four runways.

The gateway has a design capacity of 100 million passengers a year, but can be expanded to 200 million, and is targeted to accommodate 240 aircraft movements per hour. It will be connected to the North Luzon Expressway through an 8.4-kilometer tollway to be constructed as part of the project.

SMC just last month successfully raised P20 billion to partly finance the project, as well as other infrastructure investments such as the Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT7).

The conglomerate is involved in fuel and oil, energy, infrastructure, and real estate industries through its subsidiaries Ginebra San Miguel Inc., San Miguel Food and Beverage Inc., SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., SEA Refinery Corporation, San Miguel Holdings Corp., and San Miguel Properties Inc.

Shares in SMC closed Wednesday at P114.00 apiece, up P1.00 or 0.88% from the previous finish of P113.50 per apiece. -MDM, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT