The 63-megawatt greenfield Gigasol Palauig solar farm development of Ayala-led AC Energy Philippines Corporation has reached commercial operation phase and is now feeding capacity into Luzon grid.

The company injected P2.39 billion into that newly completed project; and its scale of electricity generation could go beyond 90 million kilowatt-hours (kWhs).

“Despite the challenges in construction amidst the pandemic, Gigasol Palauig has begun generating power for supply to the Luzon grid,” the project developer-firm said.

As emphasized by Jose Maria P. Zabaleta, chief development officer of AC Energy, “the Palauig solar farm is the first of AC Energy’s five new plants to begin operating in 2021,” and to his assessment, this will be “an exciting year for the company’s Philippine operations.”

He stressed that the capacity addition coming from their Palauig solar farm comes off as an even more important development “as these new plants can help offset some supply shortfalls in recent months, and help reduce the elevated prices seen in the market caused by these shortages.”

The next project being advanced by AC Energy on commercial stream is its 72MW Arayat and Mexico solar project in Pampanga province, which is its joint venture with Citicore Solar Energy Corporation.

That project commands investment of P2.75 billion and it is targeted on-line by the summer of 2022 – a timeframe when grid would also be needing beefed up power supply.

The solar development in Pampanga is AC Energy’s first partnership with CREC, and as Zabaleta described “our collaboration over the past 18 months has been very successful, and we look forward to growing that in the years to come.”

The two plants are part of the P10 billion capital outlay that AC Energy had earmarked this year, along with other projects in Alaminos, Laguna as well as the peaking plant that is under construction in Pililla, Rizal.

“The developments in Central Luzon are the latest in AC Energy’s renewables growth strategy as the company continues to embark on a transformation journey. AC Energy remained focused on its renewables expansion through continuous RE investments,” the company said.

It stressed that “despite the difficult year, the company has further expanded its portfolio and augmented its generating capacity with the construction of two new solar plants, battery storage and firming facilities in Luzon.”
The company is targeting 5,000 megawatts of capacity build up by 2025, leaning mainly on renewable energy technologies, and this be spread both in the Philippines and across its preferred markets in Asia.