EMERGING POWER, INC. (EPI), the renewable energy subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), has allocated as much as P10.3 billion in capital expenditures (capex) this 12 months because it expands its solar and battery energy storage system projects.
EPI’s projected capex represents about 88% of NAC’s total budget for the 12 months and exceed last 12 months’s P7.6-billion allocation, based on the corporate’s presentation.
Amongst its pipeline, EPI plans to energise the initial phase of its solar energy project in Botolan, Zambales, which has a capability of 45 megawatts (MW).
EPI’s three way partnership with Shell Overseas Investments B.V., which covers Phase 1 of the San Isidro, Leyte solar project, was energized last 12 months and is ready so as to add 120 MW this 12 months.
For next 12 months, EPI plans to finish the initial phase of its 145-MW solar project in Zambales and the 50-MW solar farm in Hermosa, Bataan.
“We wish to focus first on our existing pipeline of solar projects, make them more viable and more economic by integrating battery energy storage systems,” Joseph C. Nocos, consultant for EPI, told reporters on Friday.
Mr. Nocos said energy storage projects can extend power delivery and help address the intermittency of solar plants, which rely upon sunlight for generation.
“I believe you’ll see increasingly more players shifting to renewable energy because that’s what the country needs. And except for geothermal and hydro, the one way you possibly can produce electricity reliably, in a sustained way, is thru solar and battery,” he said.
He added that the corporate can be exploring the event of a hydropower project in Isabela and Davao Oriental.
EPI currently operates with a complete capability of 172 MW. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera