SunAsia
Energy Inc. and Blueleaf
Energy have secured contracts from the Philippine government to build and
operate the world’s largest floating solar project in the Philippines,
which has a cumulative capacity of over 610.5 megawatts (MW).
The move is
viewed as a milestone in the country’s energy sector, with the Department of
Energy (DoE) issuing the first set of Solar Energy Operating Contracts
(SEOCs) for a total 1.3 gigawatts (GW) in floating solar projects.
In September
2022, Blueleaf Energy, a stand-alone portfolio company of Macquarie, signed a
Letter of Intent (LOI) during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. state visit in
Singapore. The company made a commitment to significantly increase its
sustainable infrastructure investments in the Philippines.
In partnership
with SunAsia Energy, Blueleaf Energy is jointly developing the large-scale
floating solar facility on Laguna Lake, spanning the growing cities of Calamba,
Sta. Rosa and Cabuyao, and the towns of Bay and Victoria.
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SEOCs
turnover ceremony with Blueleaf Energy CEO, Raghuram Natarajan (4th from the
right),SunAsia CEO and President, Tetchi Capellan (5th from the right),DOE
Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla (7th from the right), Australian Ambassador to
the Philippines, HE HK Yu PSM (6th from the right), Singaporean Ambassador to
the Philippines, HE Gerard Ho Wei Hong (5th from the left), Senior Trade and
Investment Commissioner (AusTrade), Christopher Lim (3rd from the left), Laguna
Lake Development Authority General Manager, Atty. Senando Santiago (4th from
the left), and ceremony guests.
During the
contract turnover ceremonies, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla
reiterated his promise to strengthen the renewable energy sector and declared
the DoE’s strong support for the commercialization of floating solar facilities
as an emerging technology.
Australian
Ambassador HK Yu PSM
and Singaporean Ambassador Gerard Ho Wei Hong were among those who
attended the event at the DoE office in Makati City. The program echoed the
need to accelerate the realization of the country’s decarbonization targets by
2040.
Raghuram
Natarajan, CEO of
Blueleaf Energy, said that “as an active investor in sustainable
infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region, we believe the Philippines holds
great potential to add significant renewable energy capacity to its energy mix
and at the same time delivering green energy at an affordable cost compared to
fossil fuels.”
The recent
announcement of the removal of foreign ownership restrictions, Mr. Natarajan
said, “is an important step in attracting the much-needed foreign direct
investments in Philippine Renewable Energy (RE) sector to accelerate the energy
transition for meeting the country’s decarbonization and net zero targets.”
After the
signing of the SEOCs, Blueleaf Energy’s top executive said his company would
push for cooperation among public and private stakeholders to ensure the
successful development of the project.
This will “not
only contribute to the country’s RE goals, but also spark green job growth
locally during construction and the long-term operations of these floating
solar projects, enable local supply chains through the manufacturing of
critical components and bring about notable benefits to the local community,”
Mr. Natarajan said.
The SEOC is
a testament to the viability of this emerging technology. Tetchi Capellan,
president and CEO of SunAsia Energy, noted that “land use is becoming a big
issue for renewables.”
"People
are worrying about competing uses of land, and in some markets, you might
struggle to find land,” Capellan said. “There is a strong incentive to build on water as the
Philippines gears up for an ambitious 46 GW solar energy installations in 2040
and at the same time, increase power supply in the country.”
She said
that this first 610MW floating solar project “is our collective legacy, our
immeasurable contribution to the body of knowledge in the renewable energy
space and to the growing solar energy installations worldwide.”
“Once
built, we are certain that it will stand as one of the engineering wonders of
the world. It will capture the imagination of developers, it will be published
in multiple journals, shared in social media, visited by hundreds of
practitioners, and studied by academics,” Capellan added.
Since 2019,
SunAsia Energy has been operating a testbed on Laguna Lake to study the
behavior of waves, the movement of wind, the intensity of the sun, as well as
the variability of the temperature in the locality. The wealth of experience
has contributed to the growing knowledge of floating solar panels on the lake.
SunAsia
Energy further explained that like land-based systems, floating solar panels
generate electricity from the sun’s rays. But the bodies of water that these
farms rest on also help to cool the panels, allowing them to be more efficient
than terrestrial solar, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
Solar-on-water
will definitely boost clean power as the world races to cut carbon emissions.
Massive solar farms can now be found atop bodies of water in South Korea,
Japan, China, Thailand, Singapore, and Portugal.
Developing
solar-on-water projects, in the country’s largest lake, will help achieve not
only the government’s ambitious decarbonization target but also much needed
power to run industries, light homes, and energize cities.
More
importantly, it will be a legacy of the Philippines to the global renewable
energy space, SunAsia Energy said.
In the last
two decades, Blueleaf Energy has developed and built almost 2 GW of solar
capacity across the globe, including 250 MW in the Philippines. It currently
has over 7 GW of solar, wind and storage projects project pipeline across the
Asia Pacific region.
SunAsia
Energy, a developer of sustainable solar energy in the country, has since its
inception in 2013 partnered with various entities to develop solar projects
including the 60 MWp Toledo solar project in Cebu and the 20 MWp Dagupan solar
project in Pangasinan.
About
Blueleaf Energy
Blueleaf
Energy is a leading Pan Asian Renewable energy platform that develops,
finances, owns and operates renewables and storage assets to accelerate the
energy transition towards net zero and beyond.
Committed to
upholding the highest environmental, social, governance and safety standards,
Blueleaf Energy serves both corporate and industrial consumers and large
utilities, providing our customers access to competitive and green energy mix
and solutions to achieve their sustainability targets.
Blueleaf
Energy has a development pipeline of solar, wind and storage projects in excess
of 7 GW, a historical track record of developing and building 2 GW of capacity
globally which includes over 500 MW in the Asia Pacific. Blueleaf Energy is a
portfolio company of Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG), operating on a
standalone basis. In the Philippines, Blueleaf Energy is managed by the
Macquarie Capital operating group of the Macquarie Group.
About SunAsia
Energy
SunAsia
Energy Inc. is a pioneer renewable energy developer in the Philippines
harnessing the power of the sun to provide environmental and business
solutions. Founded in 2013 by innovative entrepreneurs from real estate and
agriculture, SunAsia Energy continues to deliver megawatts of clean electricity
in support of the energy security goals of the country and contribute to global
efforts to transition toward a net- zero carbon emission future.
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