First utility-scale rooftop solar over socialized housing rises in Cavite

NAIC, CAVITE — Joy~Nostalg Group, led by the Ng family, is looking to invest around P1.8 billion in rooftop solar power projects within housing communities, which could inject 34.6 megawatts alternating current (MWac) of capacity into the grid.

“A socialized house and rooftop solar energy maximizes the use of residential land to address homelessness of the poor, thereby conserving agricultural land for food production that was otherwise complicated for industrial energy priorities,” Joy~Nostalg Group Chief Executive Officer Jacinto Ng, Jr. said during the inauguration of the 6.55-megawatt-peak NING*NING rooftop solar project on Tuesday.

The rooftop solar system, in which photovoltaic panels are installed on the roofs of social housing communities, is expected to generate about 9,105 megawatt-hours of clean energy annually — enough to power roughly 7,900 homes.

Each rooftop converts sunlight into electricity, feeding power directly into the national grid.

Joy~Nostalg is a group of companies with an array of businesses spanning property, hospitality, energy, leasing, and culinary sectors.

Developed by Extraordinary Enclaves under the Joy~Nostalg Group, the Pasinaya Home Prime Central serves as the groundbreaking model of socialized housing with solar-ready rooftops.

According to the group, the project is the world’s first grid-connected, utility-scale solar rooftop project built inside a socialized housing community.

The recently inaugurated rooftop solar is the first of four planned projects across Central Luzon. Other projects are located in Muzon-Labac in Cavite; Sta. Maria, Bulacan; and Dolores, Pampanga.

All these projects won bids under the fourth round of the green energy auction, which was recently concluded. The program ensures long-term demand for their generation capacities through secured off-take agreements.

“We probably are developing almost 10,000 houses a year. We hope to maintain that. If we are able to do that, then that’s almost at least 20 megawatts every year, minimum,” Mr. Ng said.

In his speech, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said that the rooftop solar power project demonstrates an innovative way to generate power and shift away from fossil fuels to renewables.

“On our end as the government, we will continue improving our processes so we can promote, and support, and accelerate more innovative renewable energy projects just like this,” he said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera