Listed firm Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation (CREC) is stepping up in a big way on adding renewable energy (RE) capacity to the country’s power supply, with 1.3 gigawatts (1,300 megawatts) ramp up on its solar operating facilities by yearend until early part of 2025.

In a briefing with the media, Citicore President and CEO Oliver Y. Tan emphasized that from the company’s current operating capacity of 285MW, additional 1,000MW will be brought to commercial operations date (COD) in the months ahead, hence, that will shore up the company’s capacity injection to the grid that could help abate the country’s energy-starved state, primarily for Luzon and Visayas grids.

“We will energize around 1GW by end of the year to early next year, so the full impact of the power generation revenues will be felt next year… so that will make us 1.3GW, that’s almost 6x this year’s capacity,” he said.

Tan expounded that the solar projects won by Citicore in the green energy auction (GEA) administered by the Department of Energy (DOE) last year have been progressing according to timelines, although they are expecting ‘slight delay’ on a portion of the 680MW Tuy phased solar installation in Batangas due to right-of-way (ROW) concern on a transmission facility that will support the wheeling of its capacity to the grid.

Citicore Chairman Edgar B. Saavedra highlighted that their move to double down on bringing solar farm projects to commercial stream is part of the company’s urgent response to the country’s power supply dilemmas, as he stressed that capacity additions will continue to be on catch-up mode versus projected demand growth in the years ahead.

After delivery of the company’s initial 1.0GW installations, Citicore is already moving forward to its second gigawatt development – and that could already comfortably cement its foothold as a leading solar power producer by next year.

Appended into the suite of project-developments next year will be its 153MW solar joint venture with San Miguel Global Light and Power Corp, which will be sited in Mariveles, Bataan and targeted for commercial operations latter part of 2025.

“We’re doing the engineering design. Timetable is: once we secure all the remaining permits, we look to start construction before yearend. Timetable would be one year, so by end of 2025,” Tan said.

Saavedra noted completion of RE projects could possibly gain traction at a faster pace if the Gordian knot issues of permitting, especially with the local government units (LGUs), as well as those on right-of-way (ROW) predicaments could be efficiently addressed by government on a top-down approach – akin to the RE permitting system in Vietnam wherein mandate from the central government is efficiently enforced up to the district and community (local government units) level of governance.

On the San Miguel partnership, the company executives conveyed that project financing will be done via the typical 70:30 debt to equity ratio; and the rule of thumb investment cost will be $750,000 per MW or $114.75 million (or P6.6 billion) for the entire installation.

When asked if the company has been firming up any tie-up with other partners, Saavedra asserted “anything is possible if San Miguel will end up happy with our partnership. We always have suitors, but we are also choosy.”