SOLAR power is turning into the cheapest source of new electricity generation capacity in many countries, especially in the Philippines, which enjoys a sizable amount of sunshine all year long. As such, this energy is easy to harness with today’s low-cost solar panels.
This even makes it possible for countries to lower electricity rates, make reliable power even more accessible and accelerate their economic development. The benchmark rate for solar capacity is at P2.98 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
“Many years ago, the cost of solar technology was so expensive. Now, because it is becoming more affordable, even residential consumers prefer solar as their choice of power source. We welcome this development because it benefits the consumers, providing them more choices,” commented Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi in a text message.
According to solar-power providers, solar panel prices have gone down by 90 percent in the last 10 years and 50 percent in the last three years, indicating that the industry is fast gaining maturity.
When asked to compare the price of solar power panels then and now, Green Heat Corp. General Manager Roberto Martin said that the price of per watt peak (Wp) panel was $3 some 15 years ago. This translates to $3,000 for a 100- Wp solar panel.
“Now, it’s just $0.30 per Wp. So, if you have a 100-Wp solar panel, that will cost you $300,” he said.
The price, added Martin, is “slowly going up,” owing to increasing demand for solar electricity. “In 2016 the cost was $0.27. Now, it’s $0.30 per Wp because demand is also increasing,” he said.
It’s not just the households that have made the switch to solar energy; a number of schools, shopping malls, banks and other establishments now prefer cheaper and cleaner power. Among those that have switched to solar are the SM and Robinsons malls, De La Salle University and the Asian Development Bank.
With steadily falling costs of solar power equipment and the short duration of time needed to install and commission solar power projects, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are increasingly becoming popular among consumers and industries across the Philippines.
Moreover, they can benefit from the net-metering scheme, where they get credited for their excess electricity.
“It’s a win-win solution for entrepreneurs going for solar panels in the Philippines. They can benefit from the net-metering scheme. The demand has increased for solar power in the Philippines,” said Solenergy Systems Inc.
Under the net-metering program, electricity end-users with renewable-energy (RE) installations—such as solar, wind or biomass—not exceeding 100 kW can sell electricity they generate in excess of what they can consume directly to their distribution utility.
Leading exporter
The technology is so affordable that the Philippines can soon become one of the world’s leading exporter of solar panels.
Solar Philippines operates the first Philippine-owned solar factory in Batangas, which began operations in March 2017. The capacity of the solar facility is targeted to increase to 800 MW, with room to expand it to 2,000 MW annually.
Solar Philippines President Leandro Leviste said his company will soon begin exporting solar panels and become the world’s largest non-Chinese solar panel manufacturer.
“Around the world, our customers are going solar because they know the era of fossil fuels is coming to an end. We are optimistic Filipinos will also soon realize this, and recognize that the Philippines can become the leader in this global energy transition,” Leviste said.
Recently, the Board of Investments (BOI) approved eight solar projects of Solar Philippines worth P85.96 billion.
“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,” said Leviste.
These projects are qualified for incentives under the Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), which is a list of government-preferred business activities that will receive nonfiscal and fiscal perks, such as income-tax holidays.
Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said the company was at the forefront of renewable and affordable energy production.
“By taking advantage of the tropical climate of the archipelago, Solar Philippines is not only producing energy through its solar farms but also producing its own solar panels, as it aims to become one of the world’s largest solar panel manufacturers and exporters,” he said.
The business is so lucrative that Solar Philippines is looking to invest in a 1.5-MW solar power project in an off-grid area in Indonesia. “We’re actually constructing our first overseas project in Indonesia this quarter,” Leviste said, adding that overseas expansion is part of the company’s long-term growth plan.
Leviste said the Philippines had the best solar power market in Southeast Asia due to its “relatively open and free market environment.”
Just recently, Green Heat and US-based Zero Mass Water Inc. (ZMW) unveiled an off-grid, solar-powered technology that extracts water vapor from the air.
The two companies installed four of the hydropanels on the rooftop of ADB’s headquarters in Mandaluyong City in 2017. Each hydropanel is capable of producing up to 5 liters of potable water per day.
“The Philippines’s fragmented geography adds extra barriers for reliance on traditional water infrastructure, yet makes it ideal for our technology to provide families, communities and businesses with drinking water,” said Cody Friesen, founder and chief executive officer of ZMW.
Friesen said eight units have been installed at the National Electrification Administration (NEA) headquarters in Quezon City. Moreover, 40 hydropanels will be installed in electric cooperatives in eight Philippine provinces, namely, Pangasinan, Bukidnon, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Sur, Bohol, Samar, Davao del Norte and Misamis Occidental.
Problem: Getting land
As more RE providers prefer to venture into solar, the difficulty now lies in land acquisition.
Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) President Rogelio Singson said one would need to acquire 200 hectares of land to develop a 100-MW solar facility. “Getting land is not that easy, unlike a transmission line,” he said.
MGen is the power-generation arm of Meralco. Singson said MGen was approached by some RE providers whose solar power projects failed to make it to the government’s feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme.
“They’re telling us, you want our solar farm, we want to joint venture with you, what kind of PSA [power supply agreement] can we expect? We’re looking at everything that’s offered to us,” he said.
SE Asia’s top plants
Recently, 10 solar power projects in the Philippines made it to Solarplaza’s list of top 25 solar plants in Southeast Asia.
The consultancy firm based in Rotterdam said in its latest report that the biggest operational solar power project in Southeast Asia is from the Philippines. This is the 132.5-MW Cadiz solar power plant developed by Helios Solar Energy Corp., a joint venture between Thailand-based Soleq Solar Co. and Gregorio Araneta Inc. This went online in 2016.
Other solar power facilities in the Philippines listed by Solarplaza are the 80-MW San Carlos Solar Energy plant, which was ranked 8th; the 63-MW Solar Philippines plant in Calatagan, Batangas (9th); the 59-MW Toledo project of Citicore Power in Cebu (10th); the 59-MW San Carlos Sun Power plant in Negros Occidental (11th); the 50-MW plant of Sulu Electric Power and Light in Leyte (12th); the 50-MW plant of Syntegra Solar and Conergy in Tarlac (13th); the 45-MW plant of San Carlos Solar Energy in San Carlos City (14th); the 40-MW plant of Majestics Energy Corp. and Mother Co. in Cavite (16th); and the 22-MW plant of Mabalacat Solar Philippines in Pampanga.
“The Philippines has enjoyed large growth in PV installations in the past few years, with more than 881 MW of newly added capacity installed since 2014,” said Solarplaza.
It said that this was mainly the result of the introduction of the country’s initial FiT system, where RE developers are offered a fixed rate per kWh of their exported electricity.
In July 2011 the DOE approved a solar installation target of 50 MW, to which the Energy Regulatory Commission granted a guaranteed FiT rate of P9.68 per kWh. When the DOE increased the target in April 2014 to 500 MW, the ERC lowered the rate to P8.69 per kWh.
The DOE, however, has declared that it would no longer grant subsidies via another round of FiT rates.
Away from subsidies
Rather than wait for subsidies, Leviste said his company’s strategy is to become Asean’s first vertically integrated solar company.
Leviste noted that Solar Philippines opened the largest Southeast Asian-owned solar panel factory, signed contracts for 300 MW of solar farms for as low as $0.057/kWh—the lowest cost of solar energy in Southeast Asia, and the lowest cost of any power in the Philippines, around 50 percent lower than the average cost of coal in the Philippines today.
To further promote solar power, Leviste urged the ADB to finance the construction of merchant solar power plants.
“Even with the additional cost of storage, our claim is we can deliver not only peaking, but even 24-hour base-load power at a lower cost than coal and gas. This is something the ADB should consider next time it receives a proposal to finance a new coal power plant, on the grounds there is no viable alternative, especially considering the completion dates of those plants stretch well into the next decade.
“This is something the ADB should consider in its current capacity as adviser to the Philippine government…. We also call on the ADB to make a decisive statement, opposing the construction of any coal power plant anywhere in the world,” stressed Leviste.
So far, the DOE has awarded 216 commercial solar power projects, with an installed capacity of 905.18 MW. The agency also awarded 16 solar power contracts for self-generation electricity, with an installed capacity of 3.21 MW.
Cusi said that he sees RE like solar energy contributing more in meeting the power requirements of the Philippines in the years to come.
“We are mandated to secure sufficient, quality, reliable and reasonably priced electricity, and to develop our indigenous energy resources; thus, we are open to any technology to achieve these objectives,” the energy chief said.
Image credits: Sergiy Molchenko | Dreamstime.Com
1 comment
I love how solar power turns into one of the cheapest source of new electricity generation capacity in the country. Especially the Philippines, as it is a tropical country. With simpler methods, you can now achieve energy with today’s low-cost panels.