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Citicore CEO expects nine-fold growth in solar power by 2026.

Oliver Tan, the Chief Executive Officer of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp in the Philippines, said in an interview with The Philippine Star on Wednesday that he expects to see a nearly ninefold increase in solar installed capacity by 2026. This will amount to approximately 2,56 gigawatts.

Tan, one of the Philippines’ largest solar power producers, behind ACEN Corp., said that Citicore would add 1 GW by the end this year and another 1.17 GW by 2026.

The company has 0.29 GW installed solar capacity. This is the result of a 20% stake purchased by the renewable energy division of Indonesian state-owned oil company PT Pertamina this year.

Citicore's plans to expand solar power are in line the Philippines' efforts to decarbonise their grid after years of slow progress, which made the Southeast Asian nation the most coal-dependent grid in the region in 2023.

Government data revealed that the Philippines' renewable energy capacity increased to 9.2GW by 2024. This is a record increase of 0.8GW or almost 10%. The installations made in the past year exceeded the green capacity installed in the previous three years.

Tan said that six of Citicore’s solar projects will come on line this year, south of Manila. Three will be located in the north of the country, and one will supply the high demand Visayas Region.

By 2024, the Philippines will have nearly doubled its installed solar capacity.

Data from the energy think tank Ember revealed that solar currently generates about 3% (or 115,000,000) of the power in the country. The country wants this to rise to 5.6% by the year 2030.

Tan stated that the 2,17 GW additions between now and 2026 will put the company in a position to reach its 2030 solar capacity goal of 5 GW. The company also aims to add 0.36 GW in wind capacity by 2027.

Tan stated that the aggressive state push will likely crowd out private energy supply deals with companies in the renewable sector during this decade.

He said that the government would increase the number of tenders for grid projects, which will likely lead to a decline in the corporate power purchase agreement share this year. Mark Potter edited the report by Sudarshan Varadahan.

(source: Reuters)