BACOLOD CITY – Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. is optimistic that the proposed 100-megawatt (MW) floating solar farm in Cadiz City, Negros Occidental will further cement the city as the renewable energy (RE) capital of the province.
AMHI President Ramon Montelibano and ZRC President Jabez Alvarez recently signed an agreement on the proposed 100-MW floating solar project in Barangay Tinampaan, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental in the presence of Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. (standing left) and Andy Montelibano. (Contributed photo)
Project proponent Zonal Renewables Corp. (ZRC) and A.M. Hijos Inc. (AMHI) recently signed a deal for the very first floating solar farms in Visayas and Mindanao.
AMHI President Ramon Montelibano, along with Leandro "Andy" Montelibano, said the project will be their family's greatest contribution to government's quest for decarbonization. It will stand on a 90-hectare fishpond in Barangay Tinampaan.
The Montelibanos noted that the project has an ability to sequester 1,250 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year or an equivalent of 357,500 trees planted every year.
"Hence, this will be our legacy project and noteworthy contribution to the national government's push towards a carbon neutral Philippines," the Montelibanos said.
The City Council recently passed a resolution endorsing the project.
ZRC President Jabez Alvarez said the signing of the agreement "comes at a perfect time,” as he stressed that the outlook for new RE generation projects in the province is quite encouraging.
"That's because of the soon-to-be completed additional transmission capabilities by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and one of them is the Cebu-Negros-Panay Grid Interconnection (CNPGI) project," Alvarez said.
Escalante said that ZRC's entry to Cadiz through the AMHI is a clear manifestation that "we are demonstrating a capacity to provide an ease-in-doing business across all sectors."
“It also boosts our city's newest investment-slash-tourism campaign tagline – ‘Cadiz City: Land of Splendid Opportunities,’” the mayor added.
At present, the city is host to Home Vena Energy's 132-MW Helios Solar Power Plant (HSPP) that occupies a land area of 176 hectares in Barangay Tinampaan.
HSPP is the biggest in Southeast Asia and the seventh largest in the world.