The construction of Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation’s (SPNEC) 500-megawatt (MW) “solar ranch” in Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija is ahead of its schedule, Solar Philippines founder and CEO Leandro Leviste said. 

“As far as the plant we are constructing is concerned, [we are] even ahead of schedule,” Leviste said in the latest episode of Power Podcast. 

Leviste said that the first phase of the solar ranch, which consists of 50MW in solar panels, “should very easily [be] installed.” What is critical, however, is the construction of the transmission line from the project site to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ Cabanatuan substation.

“We are focused on making sure that the interconnection is dealt with as fast as possible,” he pointed out. 

The first phase of the “solar ranch” was funded by SPNEC’s initial public offering. Construction began over a week after its listing in the Philippine Stock Exchange  in December 2021. 

Meanwhile, SPNEC is speeding up its timetable to implement the four gigawatts (GW) of developments to be funded by the planned stock rights offering (SRO), in which the company intends to raise Php10 billion.

“Rather than wait for the effectivity of the increase in authorized capital stock (ACS) and issuance of new shares in exchange for [Solar Philippines’ (SP)] shares in its [joint venture] projects, and in line with approvals already obtained for these, SP would grant SPNEC the option to accelerate the development of the project site using the proceeds of an SRO,” SPNEC said in a statement on Thursday.

Among the projects included in the 4GW line-up include those under Terra Solar, Solar Philippines’ joint venture with Enrique Razon’s Prime Infra. Terra Solar recently offered to supply the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) with 805MW of mid-merit power for 20 years. 

“This would support SPNEC in making the first of these projects construction-ready by the end of 2023, so that SPNEC may benefit from these sooner and significantly increase its capacity,” the firm added. 

Meanwhile, the company is currently processing the increase of its ACS from 10 billion shares to 50 billion shares, which was recently approved by SPNEC’s shareholders. 

SPNEC is targeting to expand its portfolio to 10GW by 2025. 

Catch the full episode of Power Podcast with Solar Philippines Founder and CEO Leandro Leviste on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts.