MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen), the renewable energy investment platform of Meralco PowerGen of the Manila Electric Company group, has acquired 50% stake in the 450-megawatt (MWac) Bugallon solar farm project in Pangasinan that was under a service contract held by Singaporean firm Vena Energy.

For the equity acquisition, the MGen subsidiary sealed an investment agreement with Vena Energy, although the transaction value was not revealed yet by the parties.

According to MGreen, the financial closing as well as start of construction of the project will commence by the third quarter of this year; and commercial operations date (COD) is targeted by fourth quarter of 2025.

Signing of investment agreement between MGen Green Energy Inc. (MGreen) of the Meralco group and Singaporean firm Vena Energy for the 450MWac Bugallon solar farm project.

“The 450MWac Bugallon solar power project will be one of the biggest solar power ventures in the Philippines,” the MGen subsidiary noted.

As emphasized by MGreen President Dennis B. Jordan, this solar farm installation which had been awarded a service contract under corporate vehicle 3 Barracuda Energy Corporation (BEC) will be a “significant milestone in the journey towards a sustainable future.”

Though their pact with Vena Energy has not been publicly fleshed out yet, Jordan articulated that “beyond ink and paper, the signing of this investment agreement for our 450MWac solar power project in Bugallon, Pangasinan is a testament to our commitment to power the good life of many Filipinos through solar energy.”

To Vena Energy CEO Nitin Apte, the Bugallon solar farm development is regarded “as a testament to our shared responsibility and dedication to engineering a greener future for the Philippines.”

This is considerably a newly turned leaf in the flourishing partnership of MGen and Vena Energy on solar project developments  - the other one had been the 68MW Currimao solar installation in Ilocos Norte that was switched on last year.

MGen is at its very aggressive pace of solar farm buildout, as it is currently advancing its mammoth Terra Solar project in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan that will amalgamate the rollout of 3,500MW solar farm and 4,500 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage system.

Nevertheless, for one of its solar projects under subsidiary SP New Energy Corporation (SPNEC), MGen has been seeking termination of its 280MW Nueva Ecija 2 solar facility, citing ‘force majeure’ as a legal ground due to ‘transmission constraints’, which the company claimed to be a factor beyond its control.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is still reviewing its bid for contract revocation; although all industry players are actually hobbled with transmission connection dilemmas, but some have better business sense of strategically siting their projects where grid integration for their generated capacities could be feasible.

If the energy department will not prudently decide on that MGen plea, the transmission constraint force majeure justification could also be invoked by the other players; and that could set a dangerous precedent for many of the other green energy auction-awarded contracts -- and that in turn, could hamstring the country’s energy transition agenda in a major way.