A 150-megawatt (MW) agrovoltaic solar power plant, touted as a “pioneering” renewable energy project in the country, will be built by a foreign-backed homegrown company in General Santos City.Yan Amante, president and chief executive officer of Embrace Nature Power 1 Corp. (ENPC-1), said they are preparing for the construction of a solar farm and power plant in a 120-hectare property spanning portions of Conel and Mabuhay villages.Amante said they are investing around $285 million or roughly P16 billion in the project, which is set to break ground in the third week of January.”We will be employing 1,500 workers for the construction phase, which will be completed in 12 months,” Amante said in her presentation to the city council last Tuesday.She added that ENPC-1, which is based in Purok Guadalupe in Barangay Conel, is 60 percent owned by a local company and 40 percent equity by an undisclosed United States-based funder.The project area covers a total of 61 hectares in Conel village and 59 hectares in Mabuhay village which are part of a Forest Land Grazing Management Agreement held by the family of Grace Leyson Beronio.Amante said the company has partnered with a Croatian energy firm for the adoption of the agrovoltaic technology for the project, which will be among the first of its kind in the country.She explained that agrovoltaic is primarily a combination of energy and agricultural activity, with the solar panels installed at least 2 to 3 meters above the ground and with the land below utilized for growing various crops.Amante said they are initially planning to plant upland rice and ginger and later on develop a green tea plantation on the ground hosting over 200,000 solar panels for the project.”The project adopts a symbiotic design unlike the traditional solar farms wherein the ground remains unused and barren,” she said.She also stressed it will help mitigate the impact of climate change as well as prevent flash floods and landslides or erosion, she said.According to Amante, a solar power plant would be a cheaper power alternative for local electric cooperatives as its generation charge could only reach P5.90 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), she said.She said that would translate to an actual power rate of P8 to P9 per kWh, which is below the average P10 to P11 rate in General Santos City charged by South Cotabato 2 Electric Cooperative (Socoteco 2).Amante also noted it will benefit other areas in the country as the solar power plant will be connected to the Mindanao power grid through the Mabuhay-Klinan substation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.For General Santos City, Amante believed it could earn around P225 million annually in income and corporate taxes in the eighth year of the company’s operations or after the seven-year government tax holiday for renewable energy projects.The plant will hire 50 local workers for its operations and more manpower, possibly including able senior citizens, for its agriculture projects.”It can also be promoted for tourism since it is considered as a pioneering project here in the Philippines,” she said.City Vice Mayor Rosalita Nuñez expressed full support to the project, which she described as something very unique.”We’re very happy seeing this project come into fruition. We don’t see any problem passing a resolution interposing no objection for this,” she said.Records from the Department of Energy showed that ENPC-1 submitted the required permitting documents for the solar power project in March 2018.The company conducted public consultations in September with residents of the project site and other concerned stakeholders.

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