Ajuy solar plant one step closer to powering Panay

ILOILO CITY — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has approved the application of Jin Navitas Solaris Inc. (JNSI) to build and own the connection facilities for its Ajuy 1 Solar Power Plant in Iloilo, in a decision issued on Sept. 24.

The ruling clears one of the last regulatory steps before the plant can deliver power to Panay.

The island’s grid has long depended on fossil fuel plants, and connecting a large solar facility adds local generation that can reduce reliance on power supplied from outside the island.

Because the developer will build the link itself, the cost is a project expense rather than an addition to NGCP’s regulated transmission assets.

The ERC authorized the company to develop dedicated point-to-point facilities linking the solar plant to the Concepcion–Sara 69-kilovolt line of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

The plant, with a capacity of roughly 50 megawatts (MW), sits in Barangays Central and Tipacla in the town of Ajuy.

The connection works will cost PHP 636.2 million.

Under the decision, JNSI may own the take-off substations and related equipment.

NGCP will operate and maintain the facilities, with JNSI paying the applicable charges.

The approval forms part of JNSI’s larger PHP 2.37-billion solar project. The company broke ground on the plant in July 2025. The project is Iloilo’s first major ground-mounted solar facility.

The plant is being built in phases under the Department of Energy’s Green Energy Auction Program.

The first phase targets commercial operation by late November 2026, with the remaining phases to follow.

JNSI must pay a permit fee of PHP 4.77 million within 15 days.

The latest target is later than the one the company gave in May, when it said the 62-megawatt-peak (MWp) project was more than 90% complete and on track to begin operations in June 2026.

Once completed, the project is expected to become the largest solar power plant in Panay. The project was also recognized by the national government and the Department of Energy as an Energy Project of National Significance.

During peak construction, the project employed more than 700 workers, many of them from Ajuy and neighboring towns.

Once online, the Ajuy project is expected to add clean power to the Panay grid and support the government’s renewable energy targets.