CREC switches on P10-B Batangas solar farm with battery storage

CITICORE Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) has energized a P10-billion, 197-megawatt-peak solar farm in Batangas with battery storage, marking the company’s first large-scale attempt to deliver baseload-like power from solar.

“Our Citicore Solar Batangas 1 is the first in the Philippines to prove that solar can be true baseload power. This is a huge step forward in the country’s renewable energy transition,” CREC President and Chief Executive Officer Oliver Tan said in a statement on Monday.

CREC Chairman Edgar B. Saavedra said the battery support allows the plant to dispatch electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The newly energized facility forms part of CREC’s plan to deliver its first gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy capacity by yearend through 11 projects in Pangasinan, Pampanga, Batangas, Quezon, and Negros Occidental.

Three of the Batangas sites will also host battery energy storage systems with a combined capacity of 760 megawatt-hours (MWh).

“With 1.5 GWh of battery energy storage systems in place, we are prepared to replicate this breakthrough starting in Batangas,” Mr. Tan said.

The projects under development are on track for energization by 2025, expected to cut nearly 2.8 billion tons of carbon emissions and generate electricity sufficient to power about 800,000 homes annually.

At present, CREC has 587 MW of combined gross installed capacity across 13 solar facilities in the country.

It aims to complete its first GW by end-2024 before moving to its second GW of projects, which will include solar, integrated renewable energy and energy systems, and onshore wind.

CREC was among the major winners in the fourth round of the Department of Energy’s green energy auction, which awarded 9,423.622 MW of renewable capacity for delivery between 2026 and 2029. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera