Yuchengco switches on solar farm in Nueva Ecija

MANILA, Philippines — The Yuchengco Group has activated the San Jose Solar plant in Nueva Ecija, its second utility-scale solar facility integrated into the national grid this year.

The 19.6-megawatt peak (MWp) solar plant owned by San Jose Green Energy Corp. (SJGEC) has begun exporting power to the Luzon grid and is expected to generate about 29 gigawatt hours of electricity per year.

SJGEC is a special purpose company under Rizal Green Energy Corp., a joint venture between Yuchengco-led PetroGreen Energy Corp. (PGEC) and Japan’s Taisei Corp.

“The facility was successfully energized as a load unit last Dec. 11, which led to the timely completion of the testing of the substation transformer and other electrical components prior to grid export,” PGEC assistant vice president for power markets Dave Gadiano said.

The construction of the solar farm started in the fourth quarter last year and was completed last month.

This project is PGEC’s second large-scale solar facility energized this year following the successful activation of the 27-MWp Dagohoy solar plant in Bohol.

San Jose Solar is also the fourth renewable energy (RE) facility switched on by PGEC this year following the partial commissioning of the 13.2-MW Nabas-2 wind project in Aklan last April and a 360-kilowatt peak rooftop solar in Davao City last July.

“These new RE facilities not only enlarge and spread PGEC’s power operations across the country but, as significant, will increase our future revenues,” PGEC vice president for commercial operations Maria Victoria Olivar said.

PGEC is the RE arm of PetroEnergy Resources Corp., a publicly listed energy company committed to advancing reliable and sustainable energy solutions.

PGEC’s pipeline of solar projects also includes the 25-MWp Bugallon project in Pangasinan and the 41-MWp Limbauan project in Isabela.