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Terra Solar Philippines (Terra Solar), a unit of Prime Infra-led Terra Renewables Holdings, Inc., has signed the power supply agreement (PSA) for the 850-megawatt mid-merit requirement of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

Signing on behalf of Terra Solar is Prime Infra Chairman Enrique Razon, Jr., with Prime Infra and Terra Renewables President and CEO Guillaume Lucci as witness.

“This contract with Meralco is our response to help meet the increasing demand for power through a more cost-efficient and sustainable manner. We applaud Meralco for its drive to decarbonize the energy industry and ensure reliable quality power supply to support its customers. Meeting the power supply needs is of paramount importance to sustain the economic growth of the country, particularly following the challenges we faced through the pandemic and will continue to face in light of the economic headwinds the world is facing today,” said Razon.

“Terra Renewables’ further investments in renewable energy infrastructure also aims to help bring down cost of power while creating long-term economic, environmental and social values,” he added.

The signing of the 20-year PSA with Meralco marks the culmination of the competitive selection process the renewable energy project underwent per regulations of the Department of Energy.

Terra Renewables’ unit, Terra Solar Philippines, will provide the 850MW mid-merit supply, which can approximately power 1.55 million houses per year (average of 200kWh/month), while displacing an annual consumption of approximately 1.4 million tons of coal or 930 million liters of oil.

The project is a combination of 2,500 to 3,500MW solar photovoltaic (PV) system and approximately 4000MWh to 4500MWh energy storage. Through this innovative system, Terra Solar’s sites can bank excess energy when electricity is produced and supply it back to the grid when necessary, providing stable power to customers and communities.

Terra Solar is the first to offer the combination of solar PV and energy storage in such a large scale in the Philippines, shifting the nature of a solar plant from usual peaking to one which provides mid-merit capacity.

For the Meralco PSA, 600MW will be available by 2026, while the additional 250MW will be delivered in 2027.

“We are proud to develop this innovative, solar PV-plus-storage project that will contribute significantly to the share of renewable energy in the power generation mix. We are on track in the project development stage and target to provide stable mid-merit power supply to Meralco starting 2026,” said Lucci.

“This plant is today one of the largest contracted solar plus storage plant in the world. Prime Infra, together with its partner, will invest some PHP200 billion into developing Terra Solar. It is a step change in the way power generation is approached. As a company pursuing economically critical and socially relevant infrastructure, Prime Infra  is committed to do its part in accelerating the clean energy transition and strengthening the country’s energy security,” Lucci added.