According to experts, the Philippines has the best conditions to create an ideal 100 percent renewable energy economies most especially because of our tropical weather and massive amount of sunlight.
The biggest solar farm facility in the Philippines up to this date is located in Calatagan, Batangas. This facility is so huge that it crosses three towns in Batangas. These are Lian, Calatagan and Balayan towns. Its location is very accessible as it is only a ten-minute drive from Calatagan’s famous beach areas and resorts. Instead of choosing rice, corns and sugar cane as an agricultural farming land, this large farm harvest solar energy from the sun. The solar farm started their operations last March 2016 having more than 200,000 solar panels working together to generate a good amount of electrical energy, enough to power the whole western side of Batangas. The solar farm land covers 160-hectares of land space within those three towns mentioned.
This solar mega farm can generate 63.3 megawatt of power which covers the electrical needs of the residential, commercial and industrial structures of Western Batangas. The developer of this project is Solar Philippines. Solar Philippines is headed by Leandro Leviste, a 22-year-old businessman. Having 200,000 solar panels, this project reached 120 million US dollars or 5.7 billion Philippine peso. Mr. Leviste is the son of Senator Loren Legarda. The solar project was funded using several banks and one of the major fund contributors is Philippine Business Bank (PBB). According to their study, this mega power plant is expected to offset over 1 million tons of carbon emissions. This massive scale of offsetting carbon dioxide has an equivalent of 5 million newly planted trees. This contributes a big help to lower the country’s carbon footprint while providing more power sources. In the perspective of economy, the mega powerplant is expected to hire more than 100 employees on its operations. This will give opportunities to the local residents of Calatagan Batangas who are seeking jobs. This project gave a huge livelihood on Lian, Calatagan and Balayan that boosted the town’s economy, as well. For this project to be able to work as a sustainable and renewable energy in many years to come, Solar Philippines assured that the solar panels used for this power plant provide an excellent quality, if not the best, in terms of converting solar energy to electrical energy. Its exterior quality is ‘weather-proofed’ and assures longer service lifespan.
Taking into account all these variables, Solar Philippines used Trina Solar TSM-PC14 solar panels. Combining its precise location, the mega power plant can experience best weather conditions in generating clean energy. The location can experience steady breeze coming from South China Sea and the best amount of sunlight from the region while having the least probability of being hit by storms and super typhoons. Having all of these variables combined together, this project is expected to have a break-even within 8 years. Coals and oil are resources that are not renewable. There will be a point in time where the cost of these resources will increase, thereby, using these would no longer be viable. Using solar panels to generate renewable energy will cost less, thus, making it a sustainable energy source. This power plant is expected to produce clean energy for the next three decades helping the country to lower its carbon footprint while helping the community in its supply of electricity. It also offers thousands of job opportunities from construction to operation.
Philippines being a tropical country located at the southeast of Asia, surrounded by international bodies of water and have more than 7000 islands, has what it takes to produce renewable energy. Sunlight and water sources produce sustainable energy that we could use freely given to us by mother nature. Aside from this, we also have hot springs that can be used as geothermal power plants. High winds all around the country abound as we are surrounded by big bodies of water. Let us not waste it. We have to do something about it. Maximize it to our advantage because it is free.
In conclusion, Filipinos are starting to open their minds and started caring for the environment. As an alternative solution to the global problem of climate change, using these gifts from mother nature is one of the best solutions in resolving this problem. As we continue to use sunlight as a renewable energy, we lessen carbon emissions from fossil fuels, thus, putting a stop to further endangering our planet Earth. With Solar Philippines, a mega solar power plant, I hope that this would be the first step in jumpstarting our quest for a better world. May entrepreneurs who are in the field of power generations become more inspired to pursue renewable energy as the primary source of electricity to be distributed nationwide.