Emerging Power Inc. (EPI), the renewable energy subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), signed an agreement with Shell Overseas Investments B.V. (Shell) to jointly develop, operate, and maintain onshore renewable energy projects in the Philippines.
The EPI-Shell venture is targeting one gigawatt (GW) or 1,000 megawatts by 2028 with ambitions to contribute up to 3 GW or 3,000 Mw into the country’s renewable capacity by initially rolling out a series of projects in Luzon and Visayas.
The focus will be on utility scale solar photovoltaic (PV) while evaluating opportunities in onshore wind and energy storage systems.
Based on industry data, a gigawatt of solar PV can supply the annual daytime consumption of over 1.2 million homes in the country. A Filipino household typically consumes 200 kilowatt-hours a month.
“The joint venture has the full support of EPI’s parent company, NAC. This partnership would allow both companies to boost the supply of renewable energy in the Philippines and is in line with NAC’s vision to become the premier ESG investment in the country,” NAC president and CEO Martin Antonio G. Zamora said.
This joint venture is an opportunity to provide integrated value to customers through exploring synergies with retail electricity supplier Shell Energy Philippines Inc.
EPI has been growing its investments across various forms of cleaner energy including solar, wind and geothermal and entered the year with more bullish prospects as governments all over the world are turning to renewable forms of energy in response to the global energy challenges.
The company currently operates a 100-MW solar farm in Mt. Sta. Rita in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales with a 230-kilovolt-transmission line under subsidiary Jobin SQM Inc. It also recently secured a second 100-MW solar service contract with the DOE for the Mt. Sta. Rita site, the development of which is slated to begin this year.
EPI is also developing pilot geothermal projects in Mindoro and Biliran. Once completed, the pilot operations may be expanded to realize potentially 20 MW in Mindoro and 50 MW in Biliran.
