Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte today inaugurated the Philippines first solar module manufacturing facility with an expanded capacity of 800MW at Santo Tomas, Batangas, owned by renewable energy firm Solar Philippines.
The Department of Energy (DoE) of the Philippines has progressed solar projects with a combined total of 162MW of capacity, along with a 30MW battery energy storage project to grid impact testing (GIS) stages, according to consulting firm Enerdata.
After experiencing their own problems with potential induced degradation (PID), Belgium-based Edison Energy took matters into its own hands and developed the Pidbull solution in partnership with imec. Now it sells Pidbull to anyone experiencing issues with PID. As managing director Davy Verheyden explains, it is a problem solar asset owners cannot afford to ignore.
The Philippines had 903MW of installed solar PV capacity under its Renewable Energy Law at the end of 2016, according to Department of Energy (DOE) figures.
Choosing good quality solar equipment will be essential to keep the solar industry sustainable in Southeast Asia, according to Wandee Khunchornyakong Juljarern, chairwoman and chief executive, SPCG, the largest solar installer in Thailand.
UGE International, a renewable energy firm specialising in the C&I space, has partnered with Export Development Canada (EDC) to create a construction finance facility for the funding of international solar projects.
A provision in the Philippines giving medium-scale electricity consumers the ability to choose between retail electricity suppliers other than the local utility has had a major boost after a Supreme Court issuance in its favour.
Solar PV has a strong role to play in the Philippines where energy demand continues to grow and the power mix remains expensive. While significant utility-scale solar deployments peaked ahead of a deadline to qualify for the Feed-in-Tariff in March this year, a new subsidy quota is on the horizon. PV Tech caught up with Pete Maniego, senior policy adviser of the Institute for Climate & Sustainable Cities and of Counsel of Dime & Eviota Law, to gather his insights on solar subsidies and how PV can compete with fossil fuels in the Southeast Asian country.
Four PV power plants totalling 98MW have been commissioned in the Philippines in the past fortnight in time for a deadline to qualify for the country’s feed-in tariff.
