PetroSolar secures approval for Tarlac power project as FIT facility

PetroSolar Corp. on Thursday announced it has secured the necessary approvals from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for its Tarlac Solar Power Project to start operations as a feed-in-tariff (FIT) power plant.

PetroSolar said the commission released on April 27, 2016 the provisional approval to operate as a feed-in-tariff eligible power plant for its 50-megawatt Tarlac-1 Solar Power Project.

The feed-in tariff is a guaranteed payment given to renewable energy investors through a universal charge.

The plant is the first solar energy project of PetroSolar, a joint-venture company 56-percent owned by PetroGreen Energy Corporation and 44 percent by EEI Power Corporation.

Registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, it is located in a 55-hectare industrial land in Central Technopark in Tarlac City.

"This assures our company and our lenders of revenue from FIT payment of P8.69 per kilowatt hour (KWh) from 2016 to 2036," PetroGreen Energy Corp. Vice President and COO F.G Delfin Jr. said.
 
"The PAO-FIT approval effectively guarantees the FIT payment to PetroSolar and the financial viability of our investment," PERC President Milgaros V. Reyes noted.

The project attained 80-percent electro-mechanical completion on December 23, 2015, and was energized with feedback power on January 11, 2016.

It started feeding electricity into the Luzon Grid on January 27.
 
“With this ERC approval and the signing and execution last April 6 of our renewable energy payment agreement with the National Transmission Corporation, PetroSolar effectively secures our slot in the 500MW solar FIT allocation," Delfin said. – Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/VDS, GMA News