Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings, Inc. is expected to seal a deal for its first solar energy project in India within the year.
According to Businessworld, Leandro L. Leviste, president of Solar Philippines informed that Solar Philippines is targeting to seal its first Indian solar project of 500 megawatts (MW) of PPAs (power purchase agreements) within the next 12 months.
He further stated that they are prioritizing countries where there is a competitive selection process for power suppliers because the organisation believes that is where they are most competitive, identifying India as one of these markets.
India is a lucrative market
Leviste described India as now the world’s largest solar market after China, and might even take the lead because of the slowdown in the feed-in-tariff in China. The company is participating in some bid processes this year in India. As a reason stated for selecting Indian market at this point, he opined that the Indian government is imposing tariffs on Chinese and Malaysian solar panels and therefore is a good time to venture out in the Indian market.
He noted solar power rates in India are in the range of P2 to P3 per kilowatt-hour, although the capacity at stake is in thousands of megawatts. That range compares to the P2.34 per kWh offered by his company to distribution utility Manila Electric Co.
For Solar Philippines, the target capacity in India is dependent on the number of contracts it signs in the Philippines as the balance of what has not been taken up of its solar panels will be filled by the foreign market. In the Philippines, the company has around 300 MW of solar energy, either operating or under construction, and the number is expected to reach 400 MW by the end of this year.
