Singapore-headquartered renewable energy producer Vena Energy has signed an investment agreement with MGen Renewable Energy for a 550MW solar PV project in the Philippines.
The 550MW Bugallon solar PV project is located in Bugallon, Pangasinan, around 200km northwest of the country’s capital, Manila. Construction is expected to begin later this year, and operations are anticipated to commence in the fourth quarter of 2025.
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According to the project’s scoping report, the site will cover around 590 hectares of land and cost around US$565 million. It will be constructed by 3 Barracuda Energy Corporation, a subsidiary of Vena Energy.
Around 1,300,320 solar PV modules will be installed, and the project will also include a co-located battery energy storage system (BESS); however, the capacity of the battery storage system has not been disclosed.
Nitin Apte, CEO of Vena Energy, said the development of the solar PV project stands as a testament to the company’s dedication to “engineering a greener future for the Philippines”.
Manny Rubio, president of MGen Renewable Energy referenced the company’s target to achieve 1,500MW of renewable energy generation by 2030, with the Bugallon project a pivotal part of this.
“This investment not only brings MGen closer to our goal of achieving 1,500MW of attributable renewable energy by year 2030, but also deepens our partnership with like-minded organisations who believe a sustainable energy future is a collective responsibility of everyone,” Rubio said.
“We continue to bank on the shared vision of powering growth through renewable energy.”
MGen is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manila Electric Company, the publicly listed power company.
Green lane certificate awarded for solar-plus-storage project in the Philippines
Earlier this month, the Board of Investments (BOI) in the Philippines granted a ‘green lane certificate’ for developing a solar-plus-storage project claimed to be the “world’s largest”. In doing so, this would enable the project to be developed at a faster rate.
The project in question is the Terra Solar project, which plans to pair 3,500MW of solar PV with a 4,500MWh BESS.
It should also be noted that Singaporean renewable energy company Nexif Ratch Energy (NRE) recently started commercial operations at a 74MWp solar PV project in Camarines Sur, South Luzon.
The Calabanga solar project, which NRE said was the first utility-scale solar power project in the Bicol Region, will deliver clean energy to the national grid, maintained by the state-owned National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
