Renewable energy developer NEXIF RATCH Energy Investments has raised funds for the construction of its 74-megawatt (MW) ground-mount solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Calabanga, Camarines Sur.
The company did not detail the amount involved but mentioned project completion by the second quarter of 2024. Debt financing was provided by Security Bank Corp. as lender with SB Capital Investment Corp. acting as lead arranger to 70 percent of the project cost on a limited recourse basis.
NEXIF RATCH Energy said 85 percent of the Calabanga project’s generated energy will be sold to AboitizPower Corporation subsidiaries AP Renewables Inc. and Adventenergy Inc., through a power supply agreement.
The rest of the generation will then be sold to the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market or direct short-term contracts with commercial and contestable customers.
Construction will be undertaken under a lump-sum turn-key engineering, procurement and construction contract with a consortium of PowerChina Huadong Engineering Co. Ltd and PowerChina Philippines Corp.
PowerChina Philippines Corp. will also conduct operations and maintenance activities of the project for the initial two years from the start of commercial operations before transitioning their scope to the in-house operations team of NEXIF RATCH Energy.
“The start of construction of the Calabanga solar project is an important milestone in our plans to add much needed renewable energy to the Philippines,” said Surender Singh, NEXIF RATCH Energy chairman.
“We are also making rapid progress to achieve financial close of our 150 MW NPSI photovoltaic solar project in Negros later this year and are rapidly advancing the development of our offshore wind project pipeline in Luzon which comprises five project concessions totaling over 2,000 MW of potential wind capacity, the first of these projects targeted for financial close in 2024,” Singh added.
NEXIF RATCH Energy is a joint venture company owned 51 percent by Nexif Energy of Singapore and 49 percent by RATCH Group of Thailand.
