By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, Nov 25 (PNA) — As the Luzon summer reserve deficit comes nearer and nearer, Solar Philippines targets 100 Megawatts (MWs) worth of photovoltaic installations by 2015, according to Solar Philippines Founder Leandro Leviste.
“Without overplaying our target, there is a potential for us to do over 100 MWs in projects in 2015,” Leviste told reporters.
He added the projects are estimated to be more than one dozen or about two dozen, powered by 400,000 panels.
The industrial ones are mostly located in the eco-zones South of Manila, along with two projects in Robinsons Palawan at 1.2 MWs and City Mall Roxas in Capiz at 0.6 MWs.
The Solar Philippines Founder had not given a figure for the 100 MW projects, but said it will be equivalent to a lot of investments.
Leviste attributed the growing demand to alleviate the projected increase in electrical consumptions, hinted by the Luzon reserve shortage from March to June.
“This is really because there is so much demand for ways to cut people’s electricity costs, given especially next year’s high power rates,” he said.
He said that the reduction of costs in the long term, makes up for the one-time expensive investment, adding that the annual return the consumer will receive will be about 20 percent.
“But that’s true, whatever you do to reduce the costs, the upfront installation of solar panels is expensive. But you’re getting a 20 percent annual return,” the Solar Philippines Founder said.
Moreover, Leviste also added that the use of solar panel units is cheaper than using prepaid electricity.
On the other hand, he stressed that the potential for installing photovoltaic units in houses, is better than big establishments, due to the commercial charging at 9 pesos per kwh and residential at Php 13-14 per kWh. He cited a 50 percent higher better return.
However, the residential installations are harder to apply, according to Leviste, due to the size impact in which a big organization has to intervene in a thousand home installations per month.
Solar Philippines’ first project is the Binan Mall, launched on September, an installation of 700 kilowatthours (kWh), while its more recent project is the 1.5 MW installation at Sm North Edsa switched on Monday.
The company is the largest Southeast Asian developer of rooftoop power plant projects. (PNA)