Solar Philippines, Medco to supply solar power to Indonesia’s PLN

MANILA, Philippines — Solar Philippines (SP) and its partner Jakarta-based Medco Energy have secured power purchase agreements to supply 50 megawatts (MW) of solar to Indonesia’s state utility PLN in Bali, Indonesia.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, SP said its joint venture (JV) partner Medco signed 20-year PPAs with PLN to supply power from a 25-MW solar farm in East Bali and another 25-MW solar farm in West Bali, which would be the largest ground-mounted solar project in Indonesia to date.

SP began developing
the Bali solar projects in 2017, formed its JV with Medco to submit a bid in PLN’s first competitive auction for utility-scale solar in 2019, with a schedule to begin construction by 2023. Currently, SP holds 49 percent in the JV.

The Medco-SP JV beat several international power companies to win both projects in this auction.

Following the signing of PPAs, SP has granted its subsidiary and listed unit Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corp. (SPNEC) the option to subscribe to the parent firm’s share in the JV, subject to regulations, including securing approval from PLN.

With these developments, SP founder Leandro Leviste said the company hopes to show its potential in solar power.

“First, that SP is able to develop projects, form JVs, and win PPAs. If we can do this in Indonesia, then we should do so all the more in the Philippines, under the same model of winning projects with JVs,” he said.

“Second, that SPNEC has opportunities even beyond what has been factored into the share swap valuation. While the project development business is full of challenges, we are working so that, in the end, we may exceed expectations,” he said.

Indonesia has one of the world’s lowest solar capacity per capita, with an estimated less than 300-MW of operational solar for a population of 276 million. This is due to low power prices, and the scarcity of land in the most populous island of Java, which poses similar challenges in developing solar as Luzon.

Medco is one of Indonesia’s leading independent power producers, with over 3.2 GW of operating capacity.

In 2013, Solar Philippines was founded to accelerate the adoption of solar energy in the Philippines.

Since then, it has developed a pipeline of over 10 gigawatts (GW) of solar projects, according to Department of Energy (DOE) figures.

These include an operational 63-MW in Batangas in partnership with Korea Electric Power Corporation; 340-MW operating and under construction in Tarlac, Batangas, and Cavite in partnership with Prime Infra of the Razon Group; and several projects on the rooftops of SM malls.

Its unit SPNEC debuted in the stock market in December last year with a P2.7 billion initial public offering. It is developing a 500-MW solar farm, Solar Philippines’ biggest solar development to-date.