EMERGING Power, Inc., the renewable power arm of Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), is expecting to hit 500 megawatts (MW) of its one-gigawatt (1-GW) goal by 2026, pushing back plans it had initially set for next year.
“By 2026, we would already be midway of our target for the 1 GW that we promised,” NAC Vice-President for Treasury, Investor Relations, and Sales Andre Mikael L. Dy said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting on Thursday.
In March, the company said that it would hit half of its target by next year due to the completion of some of its projects.
Emerging Power currently has a 172-MW solar facility in Subic, Zambales.
Three other solar energy projects are currently in the company’s pipeline located in Subic, Leyte, Zambales.
The board of directors has agreed to provide Emerging Power with P306 billion in short-term funding for the development of the Subic-Cawag and Leyte solar projects, which have a combined capacity of 145 megawatts.
“What we would like is to support these projects and hopefully get close to half a gigawatt since we are focusing on these two projects,” Mr. Dy said.
Nickel Asia said that the construction of the Subic-Cawag solar project should start by the fourth quarter of 2024 and be completed the following year.
The 240-MW Leyte solar project started during the third quarter of last year. Its first phase is expected to be done in the second quarter of 2025, while the rest will be completed by the first quarter of 2026.
Mr. Dy said that the 45-MW Botolan, Zambales plant will begin construction during the fourth quarter.
In 2022, Emerging Power and Shell Overseas Investments B.V. agreed to collaborate on developing renewable energy projects totaling 1 GW, aiming to complete them by 2028.
Nickel Asia shares dropped 0.91% to P3.27 on Thursday. — Adrian H. Halili
