The government has approved 16 strategic investment projects for greenlane processing – including two embarking on the use of the Laguna de Bay for solar-sourced energy, according to the Board of Investments (BOI).
These projects, the BOI said, involve P336.3 billion – 11 of which fall under the renewable energy (RE) sector, consisting mostly of solar projects.
Among the approved solar projects included three sustainable energy projects that would see Asia’s second largest freshwater basin into a bed of floating solar panels capable of generating at least 1,720 megawatts of renewable energy.
According to BOI, SunAsia Energy Inc. will be bankrolling the construction of a 1,300-megawatt (MW) floating solar project in Laguna de Bay for P66 billion.
The Ayala-led ACEN Corp. also secured government approval for SolarAce4 Energy Corp.’s 140-Megawatt peak (MWp) floating solar power plant amounting to P6.25 billion and that of AC Laguna Solar Inc.’s 280-MWp floating Solar Power Plant to the tune of P10.946 billion.
LLDA-Approved Project
According to ACEN Corp, they have already secured a deal with the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) for their first large-scale floating solar project on Laguna Lake.
The deal involves 800 hectares of Laguna de Bay which they would lease from the LLDA as provided for under a renewable energy (RE) contract area utilization.
The LLDA earlier auctioned off 2,000 hectares in the southern and eastern areas on Laguna de Bay for the development of floating solar projects to generate cheaper but reliable energy sourced from the sunlight.
In a statement, ACEN president and chief executive officer John Eric Francia clarified that the project remains in the pre-development stage pending the government’s issuance of the environmental compliance certificates, before proceeding to construction which would take two to three years for the project to open for commercial operation.
“We still have a lot of work to do ahead of us. We have to talk to suppliers because this is the first time we’ll be doing [floating] solar,” Francia said even as he
Strategic Investments
Sometime in July, the government launched the green lanes for strategic investments following the issuance of Executive Order 18 last February.
“The green lanes that we have set up will address the barriers across multiple regulatory agencies that hamper the entry and delay the realization of foreign direct investments. By further easing and fast tracking the processes for doing business in the Philippines, we will raise the competitiveness of the country in attracting strategic investments by global enterprises,” Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said.
EO 18 is a government-wide response to enhance the ease of doing business in the country by expediting, streamlining, and automating government processes for strategic investments.
Moreover, the EO also mandates the DTI-BOI to establish a one stop action center for strategic investments, which shall serve as the single point of entry for all projects qualified as strategic investments.
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