Local firm takes over solar project for P6-B

A local company has taken over a firm composed of three conglomerates and is set to build the world’s largest solar project.

SP New Energy Corp (SPNEC), in a stock exchange filing, said it has acquired 100 percent of the shares of Prime Infrastructure Inc. in Terra Solar Philippines Inc. (TSPI) for P6 billion.

Together with the shares it acquired in TSPI from Solar Philippines, SPNEC is now the 100-percent owner of RSPI following a deed of absolute sale executed with Prime Infra.

TSPI is a 50-50 joint venture between SPNEC parent Solar Philippines and Prime Infra that was established in 2020.

The company is developing a 3.5-gigawatt (GW) solar and four-gigawatt-hour battery storage project, which is regarded as the world’s largest solar project.

Once completed, the solar project will be larger than India’s Bhadla Solar Park and China’s Golmud Solar Park, currently the world’s largest solar farm at 2.2GW.

According to the latest figures from the Department of Energy, it will eclipse the capacity of all grid-connector solar projects operating in the Philippines combined at over 1.5 GW.

Earlier, SPNEC said that over 3,000 hectares of land have been secured for its projects, most of which have already been converted to industrial use.

Quoting officials from Meralco, this will be one of the largest solar projects not just in Asia but in the world.  The DoE’s vision is to have about 35 percent of the country’s energy come from renewable energy and this will be one of Meralco’s major contributions to this goal.

The estimated total investment for the project is around P200 billion.

“It is a big project. It has attracted a lot of interest from foreign investors because it’s big. It’s a transformation for the Philippines,” according to Meralco Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Last October, Meralco said that MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen), the renewable energy development arm of MGenn would invest P15.9 billion in SPNEC by subscribing to 15.7 billion common shares and 19.4 billion redeemable preferred voting shares of the publicly listed company that is currently majority-owed by Solar Philippines.

Upon closure of the transaction, MGreen’s common and preferred voting share would make it the controlling shareholder of SPNEC with a total voting interest of 50.5 percent.

MGreen has made an initial payment of P7 billion to SPNEC, with the balance of P8.89 billion to be paid on the closing date upon fulfillment of certain conditions, including the increase in SPNEC’s authorized capital stock and the amendment of its articles of incorporation.

MGreen’s P15.9 billion investment in SPNEC will fund the construction and expansion of the latter’s solar projects.