AboitizPower Distributed Energy Inc., the solar rooftop unit of Aboitiz Power Corp., recently inaugurated its first project in Cebu City.
APX began operating the 100-kilowatt installation on top of the Aboitiz & Co. office in Cebu City in March and delivered renewable energy to building tenants like ACO and Aboitiz business units AboitizPower, AboitizLand and Pilmico.
“We want to show customers our confidence in the technology and its capability by putting it on our own roof,” APX general manager Jose Rafael Mendoza said in a statement.
The company is also looking at several other projects in Luzon and Visayas, some of which were set for completion this year.
Mendoza said he was hoping the latest project would encourage others to pursue their own sustainability efforts as utilizing distributed energy such as rooftop solar was a real step forward for those who wanted to do so.
“We have been in the power industry for more than 80 years. This gives us a wealth of knowledge and technical capability that we can share to our customers who want to go into solar,” Aboitiz Power president Antonio Moraza said.
Mendoza said APX’s main differentiator among other solar rooftop providers was their experience in the power industry.
“The positive response from customers affirms our view that distributed energy technology such as rooftop solar complements existing products and services that the AboitizPower group provides,” he said.
Aboitiz Power first entered the solar power market in 2016 with its 69-megawatt San Carlos Sun project in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
Aboitiz Power International Pte. Ltd. completed the acquisition of the entire stake of SunE Solar B.V. in Sacasun in January this year after the latter filed for bankruptcy.
Aboitiz Power, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Aboitiz Renewables Inc., signed a joint framework agreement with Sun Edison Inc. in 2015 to develop solar photovoltaic projects in the Philippines.
The Sacasun project sits on a 75-hectare property inside the San Carlos Ecozone in Barangay Punao, San Carlos City on the eastern side of Negros Island.
The project started delivering energy to the Visayas grid on March 9, 2016, before the March 15, 2016 deadline imposed by the Energy Department, but failed to get the feed in tariff incentives of P8.69 per kilowatt-hour.
Aboitiz Power has a wide portfolio of renewable energy plants including geothermal, solar and hydropower facilities and coal-fired power plants all over the country, helping energize economic opportunities in host communities while advancing its business portfolio.