Philippines’ Prime Infra unit to build world’s largest solar facility

It will have a 2,500MW to 3,500MW capacity with a battery energy storage system.

Philippines-based Prime Infrastrastructure Holdings, Inc. (Prime Infra) plans to develop the world’s largest solar power facility with a capacity, along with a battery energy storage system that will augment the country’s renewable energy supply.

In a statement, it said that the facility will have a capacity of 2,500 megawatts (MW) to 3,500MW, combined with a 4,000MW-hour (MWh) to 4,500MWh of battery capacity.

The project will be led by Terra Solar Philippines (Terra Solar), which is a unit of Terra Renewables Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of Prime Infra in partnership with Solar Philippines Project Holdings, Inc.

“Prime Infra finds a sweet spot to pursue solar as we take advantage of the steep decline in installation costs over the past decade and the improved battery energy storage system technology that allows us to build an economically critical and socially relevant infrastructure at a scale the world has never seen before,” Prime Infra Presiden and CEO Guillaume Lucci said.

Terra Solar will supply 850MW from the facility to Manila Electric Company (Meralco). A total of 600MW will be available by 2026, and the additional 250MW will be delivered in 2027, under the power supply agreement.

This will help Meralco increase its renewable energy sourcing as the Philippines’ Department of Energy’s renewable portfolio standards requires companies to source a minimum percentage of their energy portfolio from renewables.

Prime Infra said the 850MW supply can displace an annual consumption of around 1.4 million tonnes of coal or 930,000 litres of oil, citing Terra Solar’s computation.

Read also: What makes the Philippines the most ‘fundamentally attractive’ solar market in SEA?