Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan is stepping down as President and CEO of SP New Energy Corporation in favor of Emmanuel V. Rubio, who the MVP Group has recently hired to lead Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MGen) after his retirement as the chief executive of Aboitiz Power Corporation.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, SPNEC said Rochel Donato R. Gloria has also resigned as director, and Rubio was elected as his replacement. Dominador M. Camu, Jr. has resigned as chief operations officer, and Dennis B. Jordan was elected as his replacement.
Pangilinan remains as the chairman of SPNEC and there are no other changes in the composition of the SPNEC board of directors. He hired Rubio to build the renewable energy projects of MGen, the power generating unit of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) which has a controlling stake in SPNEC through its subsidiary MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen).
Meanwhile, SPNEC disclosed that it is also formally assigning its rights, title, and interest in the Terra Solar project, touted to be the world’s largest solar farm, to Terra Solar Philippines, Inc. (TSPI).
It is also infusing P1.05 billion into TSPI through a subscription to new shares to support its application for an increase in authorized capital stock, which will allow the entry of new partners.
The Terra Solar project is the top priority of MGen given its mandate to aggressively expand its renewable energy portfolio.
Pangilinan said earlier that they are negotiating with prospective foreign partners to take up a 40 percent stake and help finance the P200 billion project, which is touted to be the world’s largest solar farm.
SPNEC’s Terra Solar is targeted to begin operations by 2027. Its solar developments in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan will comprise 3,500 megawatts (MW) of solar panels and 4,000 megawatt-hours of battery storage.
To support these developments, as of December 31, 2023, SPNEC has secured 3,431 hectares of land for development, comprising 2,976 hectares purchased and 454.9 hectares leased.
Last December, SPNEC acquired all of the shares of billionaire Enrique K. Razon Jr.’s Prime Infrastructure, Inc. (Prime Infra) in their joint venture firm Terra Solar Philippines, Inc. (TSPI) for P6 billion.
SPNEC said that it had executed a Deed of Absolute Sale to acquire the shares from Prime Infra. With SPNEC’s shares in TSPI acquired from Solar Philippines, SPNEC now owns 100 percent of TSPI.
TSPI was established in 2020 as a 50-50 joint venture between SPNEC parent Solar Philippines and Prime Infra to develop a 3.5 GW solar and 4 GWh battery storage project, referred to as the world’s largest solar project.
This would be larger than India’s Bhadla Solar Park and China’s Golmud Solar Park, which are currently the world’s largest solar farms, with over 2.2 GW.
This would also exceed the capacity of all grid-connected solar projects operating in the Philippines combined at over 1.5 GW, according to the Department of Energy’s latest figures as of 2023.
“This will be one of the largest solar projects not just in Asia but in the world. The Department of Energy’s vision is to have about 35 percent of the country’s energy come from renewable energy, which is one of Meralco’s major contributions to this goal,” Pangilinan previously said.