This week has seen significant developments in the Philippines’ solar-plus-storage sector, with Levanta and ib vogt securing finance for projects set to come online next year and ACWA Power leasing 500 hectares for a project that could have a solar capacity of as much as 500MW.
Levanta secures finance for 166MW solar-plus-storage project
Singaporean independent power producer (IPP) Levanta Renewables has secured financial close for a 166MW solar PV project to be developed in the Philippines, which will be co-located with an 80MW battery energy storage system (BESS).
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The Barotac project will be built in the Visayas island group, now that the developer has secured finance from two “leading banks”; Levanta did not name the banks involved in the transaction. The company was awarded a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the project as part of the Fourth Round of the Green Energy Auction Program (GEA-4) completed by the Philippines government last November.
The auction saw 10.19GW of new energy capacity awarded, with both standalone solar and solar-plus-storage big winners in the auction; a total of 4.19GW of ground-mounted solar PV capacity received awards, alongside 1.19GW of co-located renewables-plus-storage. With the offtake agreement and project finance in place, and the China Energy Engineering Group (CEEC) appointed to complete engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work at the project, Levanta expects to start commercial operations at the project in mid-2027.
“The achievement of financial close marks an important milestone for the Barotac Solar Power and BESS project,” said Levanta CEO Pramod Singh. “We are pleased to move into the execution phase and appreciate the support of our financing partners and project stakeholders.”
Luca solar-plus-storage project secures debt financing from Rizal bank
German IPP ib vogt has secured finance for its own solar-plus-storage project in the central province of Iloilo, the 99MW Luca solar project that will be co-located with a 4MW BESS.
The latest round of financing comes from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, with the bank’s capital corporation acting as the lead arranger, and comes to US$75 million (PHP4.5 billion) in senior debt financing. Construction at the project began earlier this year, and ib vogt expects to begin commercial operations at the project in the second quarter of next year.
The integration of storage into these Visayas projects is no surprise, considering that the Visayas grid has seen enough new renewable energy capacity brought online to create significant downward pricing pressure. According to Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy for Southeast Asia (CASE), power prices fell from around US$119/MWh to US$81/MWh in Visayas between 2023 and 2025, the most striking change in a country that saw power prices, on the whole, decline over this period.
In response, the Philippines government mandated that all renewable energy projects with a capacity of 10MW must have BESS integrated into their operations, and this is reflected in the increasing number of protect proposals that include both renewable energy generation and storage.
ACWA Power secures 500 hectares for solar-plus-storage project
Saudi developer ACWA Power is also advancing a solar-plus-storage project in the Philippines, having secured a lease for a 500-hectare site in New Clark City, a planned city currently under development in the northern Philippines.
The developer signed a contract of lease for the land with the state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which is leading construction on New Clark City. The project, which is currently unnamed, will have a maximum solar generation capacity of up to 500MW, and ACWA Power noted that it could cost up to US$200 million.
The developer did not specify the size of the project’s BESS component, nor provide a timeline for construction, but noted that the project is still subject to “final design, regulatory approvals and future expansion phases”.
“Anchoring ACWA inside New Clark City is a defining moment for the estate,” said BCDA president and CEO Engr. Joshua M. Bingcang. “It tells global investors that this is where the Philippines’ next wave of sustainable infrastructure gets built.”
