SOLAR Philippines partners with SM Malls to build the first of many solar plants around the
country as a solution to climate change and power crisis. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The solar powered rooftop at the SM City North Edsa (SMNE) mall has been listed on the country’s energy spot market as one of the new sources of power for the Luzon grid.
The Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed that the solar power plant at SM City North Edsa had been registered under the new generation capacities for Luzon grid, contributing an additional 1.5-megawatt (MW) capacity to the power supply within Luzon areas.
DOE assistant secretary Mario Marasigan, who also heads the Renewable Energy Management Bureau, said the inclusion of the solar power plant in SM North Edsa in the electricity market means that the power it generates contributes to the stabilization of the power supply in Luzon areas.
The power plant, he said, is included under the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) System, a scheme that involves the obligations on the part of electric power industry participant to source electricity from Renewable Energy (R.E.) generation at a guaranteed fixed price applicable to a given period of time.
Unlike other solar rooftop projects which are dedicated for self-use of the building, Solar Philippines’ SMNE solar power plant is the only commercial rooftop solar project within the heart of the Metro Manila that is connected to the Luzon grid, thus, contributing additional capacity to the power supply within Luzon areas, according to DOE data.
The solar plant is owned and operated by Solar Philippines Commercial Rooftop Projects Inc. (SPCRPI), led by its president Leandro Legarda Leviste.
The SM North Edsa solar powered rooftop, the largest solar powered rooftop in a commercial establishment in Southeast Asia, is composed of 5,760 solar panels. It produces enough power to energize 1,000 households or 150,000 10-watt light bulbs or charge 214,285 cellular phones.
The power generated from the solar panels could offset 1,200 tons of C02 or the equivalent of planting 6,000 trees per year.
SM Prime President Hans Sy earlier said in a statement, “It is part of SM Prime’s continuing commitment toward making its operations sustainable and environment friendly as the world prepares for the effects of climate change.”
The said solar powered rooftop, which is located at the multi-level carpark building, was inaugurated by President Aquino, Sy, and Leviste in November 2014.
SM Prime has put up the first SM mall to operate using solar energy in Xiamen in mainland China using 3,740 solar panels, generating 1.1-MW power. For this pioneering effort, SM City Xiamen was awarded the Mall China Golden Mall Awards 2014 Excellent Upgrade last April in Shanghai by the Mall China Information Center, the first nonprofit organization in Mainland China catering to the retail property sector and the country’s largest shopping center retail organization.
Similarly, SM City Jinjiang, also located in China, has 4,012 solar panels which targets to generate 1.2 MW per year.
The need for greater sustainability and disaster-resiliency has been at the forefront of SM Prime’s development. For the Mall of Asia complex, SM Prime devotes around 30 percent of its budget to make the whole area disaster-resilient. As a result, it had survived 50 typhoons, four earthquakes and two floods from monsoon storms since it was built in 2006.
Great strides were also achieved through sustainable designs of its other malls, notably in SM Mall of Asia, SM Marikina, SM Masinag and SM Muntinlupa.
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