Citicore energises first solar baseload power plant in PH

The project also has a 1.5 GWh battery energy storage system.

Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) has energised the CS Batangas 1 energy facilty, the Philippines’ first solar baseload power plant.

In a bourse filing, CREC said CS Batangas 1 is located in Barangays Lumbangan and Luntal in Tuy, Batangas. The 197-megawatt (MWp) solar power plant is coupled with a 320 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS), allowing it to store and dispatch needed energy beyond the normal hours of solar.

“With 1.5GWh of battery energy storage systems in place, we are prepared to replicate this breakthrough starting in Batangas,” said CREC President and CEO Oliver Tan.

This development fuels CREC’s goal to hit 1 gigawatt up to the first quarter of 2026.

CREC’s 1 GW goal is composed of 11 facilities in Pangasinan, Pampanga, Batangas, Quezon, and Negros Occidental. Nine of these have secured a 20-year offtake with the Philippine government through the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP)-2.

Three of the facilities in Batangas will also be host to BESS, totalling 760 MWh. The said projects are on track for energisation by the end of 2025, reducing close to 2.8 billion tonnes of carbon emissions and generating enough electricity to power approximately 800,000 homes yearly once all sites are energised.