MGen pitches floating solar facility on Laguna de Bay

Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) power generation arm is looking into a possible 110-megawatt floating solar facility on Laguna de Bay as part of its renewable energy thrust.

Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen) president and chief executive Rogelio Singson told reporters in an interview the company was “in the process of applying for” such a project.

The Meralco group has earlier announced a plan, through MGen Renewable Energy Inc. (MGreen), to invest in 1,000 MW of renewable energy projects over the next five to seven years.

“This [floating solar project] can be done in about 10 months, [but] the requirement is to have a pilot project first,” Singson said. “You have to start at a smaller scale.”

He said MGreen was awaiting the go-ahead from the Laguna Lake Development Authority to do the floating solar project.

“Right now, we have a local partner [for this project], but we hope to be able to eventually grow the portfolio,” Singson added.

Earlier this October, Meralco said its board agreed to inject P424 million in funds that would contribute to the P10-billion cost of MGreen’s pipeline of solar projects—

representing a total of 210 MW in power-generation capacity.

MGreen is intended to be the Meralco group’s platform for other renewable energy projects including wind and run-on-river hydro power.

MGen, along with Thai partner Electricity Generating PCL, or EGCO Group, last September started the commercial operations of their 455-MW San Buenaventura power plant in Quezon province.

The San Buenaventura facility, touted as the first in the Philippines to use supercritical technology—which means it is more efficient compared to conventional power plant as it can harness more heat from its fuel in producing electricity—provides round-the-clock supply to the grid, being a baseload power plant.