The joint venture of Filipino firm SunAsia Energy Inc. and Singapore-headquartered Blueleaf Energy will be injecting $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion worth of investments to develop at least 10 service contracts on floating solar facilities that may yield aggregate capacity of 1.3-gigawatt or 1,300 megawatts. The initial six service contracts with total capacity of 610.5MW was formally awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday (May 10) to the project-sponsor firms; while the other four service contracts will follow suit. Taken together, the contracts which have 25-year operating period each, had been touted as the world’s largest development to be ever pushed in the renewable energy investment space. “This project, in total are 10 service contracts which could be around 1.3 GW in terms of capacity. This is the first phase of six (6)  service contracts and we will be coming back for four (4) more service contracts which will be issued very quickly,” Blueleaf CEO Raghuram Natarajan said. According to the energy department, these floating solar facilities will be installed on the water surface of Laguna Lake – that spans through the cities of Calamba, Sta Rosa and Cabuyao as well as the towns of Bay and Victoria. Project proponent SunAsia Energy has been one of the pioneering developers of solar farm projects in the country; while its foreign partner Blueleaf Energy is a stand-alone investment portfolio firm under Macquarie's Green Investment Group. Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla said “the awarding of these contracts accelerates the implementation of the thrust of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to develop indigenous and renewable sources of energy,” adding that the ventures would represent “additional strategic investment and a firm commitment to strengthen the country's renewable energy sector, especially the commercialization of floating solar as an emerging technology.” Blueleaf narrated that it signed letter of intent (LOI) for the targeted floating solar venture during the state visit of President Marcos in Singapore around September last year. “The commitment was for Blueleaf Energy to significantly increase its sustainable infrastructure investment commitments in the Philippines,” the company noted. Natarajan asserted that “the Philippines holds great potential to add significant renewable energy capacity to its energy mix and at the same time delivering green energy at an affordable cost compared to fossil fuels.” He stipulated that “the recent announcement of the removal of foreign ownership restrictions is an important step in attracting the much-needed foreign direct investments in Philippine RE sector to accelerate the energy transition for meeting the country's decarbonization and net zero targets.” SunAsia Energy President and CEO Tetchi Capellan pointed out that the floating solar is an ideal option on this technology development sphere as "land use is becoming a big issue for renewables.” She stressed “people are worrying about competing uses of land, and in some markets, you might struggle to find land. So, there is a strong incentive to build on water as the Philippines gears up for an ambitious 46 GW solar energy installations in 2040 and at the same time, increase power supply in the country."