Meralco PowerGen Corporation, the power generation investment arm of Manila Electric Company (Meralco), has shortlisted two bidders for the transmission connection that will transport the capacity of its P190 billion Terra Solar project upon reaching commercial operations by 2026.

MGen President and CEO Emmanuel V. Rubio said the company will advance the investment cost for the transmission connection of the initial two-phased solar farm developments – with the first phase at 1,600MW capacity being subdivided into East and West segments at designated project sites in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan.

“We have received offers already for the transmission and we are reviewing and negotiating already with two shortlisted candidates,” he noted, although he refused to divulge for now the identities of the interested parties.

On top of that, Rubio conveyed that offers were also advanced for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the initial phase of the project.

“Completion targets for major components are set for December 2024 and January 2025 and these are the awarding for the EPC - for both transmission and PV (photovoltaics),” Rubio stated.

For the project sites, the MGen executive emphasized that their initial buildout of 1,600MW had already been covered by their landbanking portfolio; and that is expected to reach a scale of 2,200MW by September this year.

The Terra Solar project has been designed for 3,500MW capacity plus 4,500 megawatt-hours of energy storage systems; thus, at the one-hectare to 1.0MW configuration, additional landbanking requirements shall cover the capacity balance of 1,300MW.

“For Terra Solar project, we are happy to share that it has completed 54% overall in project development phase as of second week of July. Key progress areas include land control, the PV lands now 49% complete, and transmission line right-of-way is 34% complete,” Rubio highlighted.

He added that permitting process for pre-development activities already topped 58%; while system impact study (SIS) had already been granted by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) two weeks ago.

“The Terra Solar project remains on track for key milestones with significant progress anticipated in the coming months,” the MGen executive stressed.

As committed in the power supply agreement (PSA) awarded to Terra Solar, the delivery of its generated capacity to Meralco must be 2026 for phase one; while the second phase has to be on commercial stream by 2027.

Apart from advancement of development efforts in the project’s implementation, Rubio qualified that tapping partnership for sponsor firm SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC) is also ongoing.

“There are interested parties, but we have not made any decision – but there are a number of parties. We shortlisted candidates but we have not yet decided,” he stressed.

Rubio hinted that the company’s board will likely decide next month on the prospective partner for the Terra Solar venture.

“Very keen interests - very long list of investors so I think the actual bid date, binding offer should be August 15. So by the end of August, the board will have to choose,” he expounded.