The 1.5 megawatts of electricity produced by the solar panels at the roof top of SM North Edsa was enough to power 16,000 lighting fixtures and 20 escalators enabling SM to save P2 million per month in electricity bill.
The power generated from the SM North Edsa project can offset 1,200 tons of carbon dioxide equal to planting 6,000 trees per year.
Leandro Leviste, Solar Philippines chief executive officer, said the solar panels in the malls will show people that solar energy is commercially viable.
“Between Robinsons, SM and some other large malls we should have around 20 malls finished by maybe next summer. The mall installations usually (have a capacity of) 1 megawatt each so I estimate that it would add up to 30 MW,” said Leviste.
He said Solar Philippines is almost done installing the solar power system with a capacity of 2.7 MW on the rooftop of the parking building of the SM Mall of Asia which is targeted to be operational within the month.
“That is more of a showcase to be seen by the millions of people that (frequent) SM Mall of Asia to raise awareness that solar energy is commercially viable. We also have four under construction with Robinsons and many more in the pipeline with them,” Leviste added.
In the past year, among the mall projects completed by Solar Philippines were the 1.5 MW rooftop power plant in SM North EDSA, 1.2 MW in Robinsons Place Palawan, 0.7 MW in Central Mall Biñan in Laguna and 0.6 MW in CityMall Roxas.
Solar Philippines is not yet looking at solar projects in off-grid areas.
“We’re focusing on where we can make the largest impact and scale before going to markets like off-grid and then residential afterwards. Right now, all developers are focused with the feed-in-tariff (FIT),” Leviste said.
Aside from solar rooftop installations, the company is also engaged in the development of various solar power plant projects vying for FIT including the 70 MW in Calatagan, Batangas and a 40 MW solar farm in a still undisclosed area in Mindanao.
Only energy projects that can produce power before March 2016 can qualify for FIT and become entitled to 20 years of fixed rate of P8.69 per kilowatt hour.
FIT-certified projects will also be given preference in the dispatch in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
Records of the Department of Energy show as of the first half of the year, the country’s total grid installed capacity from solar projects is at 110 MW or 0.60 percent of the total mix.
Source: http://www.malaya.com.ph/
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