World's largest solar-battery facility begins operations

MTerra Solar declared 600MWac commercial operations in the Philippines on 26 August.

MTerra Solar began commercial operations for 600 megawatts alternating current (MWac) of mid-merit capacity under its Power Supply Agreement with Meralco on 26 August.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines issued its Final Certificate of Approval to Connect, confirming that the facility met requirements to safely connect and operate 950MWac of solar capacity and 825MW of battery energy storage system within the national grid.

The launch follows the inauguration of MTerra Solar Phase 1 on 14 July, which marked the energisation of 1,373MWac of solar PV and 825MW — equivalent to 3,300MWh — of battery energy storage, making it at that time the world's largest integrated solar PV and battery storage facility on a single site.

MTerra Solar, a joint investment between Meralco PowerGen Corporation (MGEN) and Actis, is designed to deliver 3,500MWp of solar PV capacity paired with 4,500MWh of battery storage when fully completed. 

Actis's $600m investment represents the Philippines' largest foreign direct investment for a greenfield infrastructure project to date.

The project is expected to supply clean energy to approximately 2.4 million households and avoid 4.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. Another 250MWac under the same Power Supply Agreement is scheduled to enter commercial operations in the coming months.

MTerra Solar supports the Philippine Energy Plan and the government's targets to raise renewable energy's share in the power generation mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040.