Renova wins 85-MW Philippine solar auction award in Visayas region

• Japan’s Renova secured an 85-MW solar project in the Visayas via auction, advancing utility-scale PV in a grid needing flexible daytime supply.

Japan’s Renova Inc has clinched an 85-MW solar project in the Philippines’ Visayas region through a recent competitive auction, adding momentum to the country’s push for more utility-scale renewables. The win gives Renova a new foothold in Southeast Asia’s fast-growing solar market and injects additional daytime capacity into an islanded grid that faces rising demand and periodic transmission bottlenecks.

The project will follow a lender-friendly design: high-efficiency modules—many bifacial—on single-axis trackers to extend production into morning and evening shoulders, DC/AC ratios tuned for annual yield, and plant controllers aligned with Philippine grid-code requirements for reactive power, ride-through and ramp-rate limits. Unified SCADA with string-level telemetry should sharpen O&M and lift availability by catching underperforming blocks quickly.

Visayas fundamentals are compelling. Industrial loads and tourism are rebounding, while distributed rooftop uptake remains uneven—leaving utility-scale PV as the most direct lever for decarbonising midday supply and tempering wholesale price spikes. Siting near strong substations will be critical to minimize curtailment and manage interconnection timelines. Although storage is not part of the award, modern layouts preserve pad space and transformer headroom for two-to-four-hour batteries that could shift energy into the evening ramp and provide fast frequency support.

Community and environmental safeguards are now standard in Philippine builds: traffic and dust controls, storm-water systems sized for heavy rain, glare studies where relevant, and biodiversity plans using native species under arrays. Decommissioning provisions and recycling pathways for modules and balance-of-plant components give long-term assurance to landowners and municipalities.

Commercially, Renova can pursue utility or retailer PPAs, or blend corporate offtake to diversify exposure. Early reservations of long-lead gear—transformers, switchgear, protection systems—often dictate schedules more than civil works, so procurement discipline will matter.

If execution matches design, Renova’s 85-MW plant will add a meaningful block of local, low-cost daytime generation—reducing fuel imports, cutting emissions and smoothing volatility across the Visayas grid.