By James A. Loyola – November 2, 2021, 4:54 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Solar Philippines is preparing an initial public offering (IPO) of the shares of wholly owned subsidiary Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation (SPNEC) worth up to P1.3 billion.
In a statement, the firm said SPNEC is developing a 500 MW solar project in Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija.
The company aims to raise up to P1.3 billion to fund the equity portion of the construction of the project’s first 225 MW, which would be larger than any solar project operating in the Philippines.
The company would seek further financing to complete the 500 MW, bigger than any solar project operating in Southeast Asia, and larger than the combined total of all non-Solar Philippines solar projects operating in Luzon in the latest list published by the Department of Energy (DOE).
The company aims to expand the project beyond this capacity amid the country’s growing demand for renewable energy.
“We’ve decided to make Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation our group’s first venture into the public markets because this is the asset that we are proudest to showcase: a site where will rise the largest solar project in the Philippines, with potential for further expansion given its proximity to Manila,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste.
The company aims to list under the Supplemental Listing and Disclosure Requirements for Renewable Energy (RE) Companies approved by the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in 2011.
These rules allow development-stage project companies to list, subject to certain requirements including having a valid and subsisting service contract awarded by the DOE.
“The PSE showed great foresight in creating this program for RE companies. Through this offering, we hope to give the public a new option to invest in RE, and expand RE in the Philippines,” Leviste said.
SPNEC was incorporated in 2017, and since then has been securing land and permits for its project. The company plans to start the construction of the project before the end of 2021.
Once operational, the project is intended to supplement the Luzon grid’s thin reserves and help prevent the rotating outages that affected millions of Filipinos earlier this year.
Upon the project’s completion, Nueva Ecija would host the largest of five utility-scale Solar Philippines projects planned to be operational by 2022.
The other projects of Solar Philippines include one in Batangas with an operational 63 MW in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO); one in Tarlac, being expanded to up to 200 MW in partnership with Prime Infra of the Razon Group; and another two in Batangas and Cavite with a combined capacity of 140 MW planned to be fully operational by 2022.
Along with the expansions of these projects and the company’s rooftop solar portfolio, these projects would comprise the company’s first 1 GW, half of which would be in SPNEC.
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