Conergy acheives 22 MW order in the Philippines PV Solution

Conergy further expands its leading market position in Asia, with a large-scale power plant totaling 22 megawatts. Conergy secured its first major order in the Republic of the Philippines – the largest in this emerging solar market so far. Conergy is building the 350,000 square meter solar project in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental for San Carlos Solar Energy Inc. (SACASOL), a joint venture between the local clean energy developer, Bronzeoak Philippines, and fully-financed by European-based asset management and project finance group, ThomasLloyd.

As the general contractor, Conergy is responsible for the planning and engineering, the supply and the construction of the two solar power plants with a total capacity of 13 and 9 megawatts respectively. After completion, which is expected in the first six months of 2014, the 88,300 Conergy modules of the “P-Series” will produce around 35,000 megawatt hours per year. This is enough energy to supply 13,000 households in the Philippines. At the same time, the two parks avoid approximately 18,800 tons of CO2 emissions.

“We are entering another growth market – more to follow together with Kawa.”“With our market entry on the Philippines, we are opening up another attractive and emerging growth market in Asia, adding to our strong presence in Thailand”, said Marc Lohoff, Chief Sales Officer of Conergy in Asia and North America. “With this order, we will build the first and especially the largest power plant on the entire archipelago. The entry in the Philippine market was an important first step and we are currently working on very interesting large-scale projects in other solar growth markets, in the region as well as in North America.”

“Conergy has a proven track record in Asia and an exceptional reputation.” With the PV power plant, Sacasol expands its business activities in the field of renewable energies. The company already operates an 18 megawatt biogas power plant in the Republic. “The costs of traditional sources of energy have led us to look into alternatives, and we’ve found that solar energy is a cost-effective and environment-friendly option”, said Jose Maria “Sech” Zabaleta Jr., President at Bronzeoak Philippines Inc.

“Conergy power plant fourfold exceeds expected total market size in 2013.” The Philippine market is currently relatively small. Due to the high cost of energy on the archipelago, however, opportunities for photovoltaics are excellent: “According to the Philippine Solar Power Alliance (PSPA), the market capacity is expected to double to a total of five megawatts by the end of 2013. Our solar power plant will be four times this expected total market size, once completed 2014”, said Alexander Lenz, President of Conergy Asia and the Middle East. “The outlook is bright as well: In the coming years, the government will cover around one third of the country’s total energy needs by Renewables. Besides the large-scale projects, the strongly growing rooftop installation will contribute to that development. For the latter, the government has lately introduced ‘net metering’ options.”

So-called “net metering” allows owners of installations up to 100 kilowatts to offset the energy produced and consumed with the energy taken from the public grid, thereby significantly reducing their energy bill. Net metering models are already in use in the USA, South America and Italy, where end consumers can benefit from grid parity and solar power being cheaper than conventional energy from the grid.