- A listed unit of Solar Philippines is working on acquiring land for a new 3.5 GW solar farm.
- Company to rely on proceeds from various capital raising initiatives for project finance.
Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation (SPNEC), a listed unit of Solar Philippines, is working on acquiring land for a new 3.5 GW solar farm coupled with an existing project and forming what it calls the world’s largest solar power plant. The company revealed yesterday that it is allocating proceeds from its various capital raises to obtain a minimum of 2,500 hectares of land in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Bulacan.
SPNEC is already building the first phase of a 500-MW solar park along with the needed transmission line in this area but has plans for even more significant development, having been consolidating land and permits since 2016.
With a combined capacity of 4 GW, this cluster will significantly exceed the 2.2-GW-plus Bhadla solar farm in India as the world’s largest such facility. For comparison, the Philippines’ total grid-connected solar capacity at the end of 2021 was over 1.3 GW.
“Over the years, others did not believe these ranchlands far from the grid could be the site for a solar farm. By the end of this year, our planned share issuances should result in the consolidation of ingredients that would enable SPNEC to expand its flagship project to be the world’s largest solar farm,” said Leandro Leviste founder of Solar Philippines.
To finance its plan, the company will rely on proceeds from various capital raising initiatives, including a stock rights offering (SRO), scheduled to be priced tomorrow, among other share issuances and the previously-announced asset-for-share swap with parent company Solar Philippines.
SPNEC hopes to reach 8 GW of contracted capacity with a commercial operation date between 2025 and 2026.