Philippines now has utility-scale rooftop solar facility

First Philec Solar Corp. has put up the Philippines' first rooftop-installed solar facility of “utility scale".

According to the Philippine Solar Power Association, the opening of the facility demonstrated how solar electricity could be easily deployed within a few months’ time. It also showed the adaptability of solar plants to grid conditions and how solar energy could be used for industrial and residential purposes.

The PSPA claimed that this was the first solar facility installed in a rooftop that could generate at a so-called utility
scale, meaning 100 kilowatts and above. Similar facilities have earlier been installed on rooftops, but these were mainly used for rural electrification in Mindanao, which meant that the capacities were below 1 kW, explained PSPA president Tetchi Cruz-Capellan.

For household use, such solar facilities could only generate roughly 10 kW, she added.

Located within the First Philippine Industrial Park in Tanauan, Batangas, the First Philec solar facility could generate 180 kW in additional grid capacity.