Newly-listed Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation (SPNEC) is preparing its planned expansion for a joint venture that will build a 1,000 hectare solar farm.

“We are preparing an initial 1,000 hectares for a joint venture with a partner who can help turn this plan into a reality,” said Solar Philippines Founder Leandro Leviste in response to questions on the planned expansion beyond SPNEC’s initial 500 MW project.

According to the company’s prospectus, part of the initial public offering proceeds will be used to construct the first 50 MW out of the 500 MW that SPNEC has already developed.

But the largest part of the IPO proceeds will be used to acquire land to expand beyond the 500 MW. This is in support of SPNEC’s plan to develop the largest solar project in Southeast Asia.

While the new partner has not yet been named, Leviste had emphasized in previous interviews the view that partnering with the country’s leading companies will be key to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

In 2020, Solar Philippines announced its strategic shift towards Sites and Partners, focusing on creating value from the development of greenfield sites and then bringing in other companies as partners once the project has been de-risked.

In the case of its Nueva Ecija developments, SPNEC is initially limited by the power demand of Central Luzon, but the development of around 60 km of transmission to Bulacan would enable SPNEC to deliver more power directly to the Greater Manila Area.

The company has noted this expansion potential is one of the reasons it prioritized this project and pursued the IPO of SPNEC.

“This project’s scale is both its advantage and disadvantage. Unlike 100 MW projects located next to existing transmission, this one will need to be at Gigawatt-scale to justify the development of new transmission, which is why others have not sought to develop in this area,” said Leviste.

He added that, “This is a bet on the demand for large-scale solar, and if such demand does come, this project can become larger than all the solar projects to date in the Philippines combined.” These developments are in response to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) increase of the Renewable Portfolio Standard target to 35 percent of the country’s energy that would need to be sourced from renewable energy by 2030, which would translate to the need to build over 20,000 MW of solar.

According to the DOE’s latest figures as of December 2020, the Philippines had a total operating grid-connected solar capacity of 1,021 MW.