Construction of South East Asia’s Biggest Solar Facility Starts in Negros Island

The construction of 100MW solar power facility in the island of Negros has started. The said project is considered the biggest solar power facility in South East Asia by its financer Equis Funds Groups.

Equis Funds Group, Asia’s largest independent energy and infrastructure private equity fund manager with offices in eight Asian countries is expected to finish the project by the end of 2015.

The $175 million facility is located inside the 175-hectare former sugar cane field at Hacienda Paz, Brgy. Tinampaan, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental.

The group says the facility can supply more than half of Negros Occidental’s power requirement during day time when fully operational.

Construction of the said solar facility also generates more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs, and can employ 150 to 200 permanent workers during normal operation.

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Craig Marsh, Equis Funds Group director, and executives from Soleq, led by its chief technology officer Michael Vukelic, paid a courtesy call on Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. at the Capitol yesterday, to brief him on their solar project.

The plan to build a coal-fired power plant in Cadiz City has been scrapped but the construction of a diesel-powered plant is still ongoing, he added.

The diesel plant being built by Phil-Power Exploration and Development Corp. in Brgy. Tinampa-an is expected to be operational, also by December, he added.

He said 20 years down the line, all power sources are expected to be renewable.

Meanwhile, Cadiz City Mayor Patrick Escalante said the national government is allocating P308 million in housing assistance to 21,000 Cadiz residents, who were victims of super-typhoon Yolanda.

The funds are expected to be released by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, he said.

Escalante said P30,000 each will be allocated for destroyed houses and P10,000 for those damaged.

The Cadiz City solar project is a major move to boost the creation of the Negros Island Region to be more competitive politically and economically. The Palinpinon Geothermal Plant in Valencia Negros Oriental has been the major source of electricity in Visayas, and the creation of the Cadiz Solar Plant will only put the Negros Island ahead of other regions without their own source of energy.

The solar facility can also be a big tourist attraction and can add more tourism revenue for the Cadiz city government, the group added.

/Lily Golez/

Source: The Visayan Daily Star, Business Mirror

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