The Department of Energy (DOE) is assessing the electricity requirements of the proposed Pax Silica technology hub in New Clark City, Tarlac, as the government prepares for the project’s expected high energy demand.
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said authorities are reviewing options to ensure the project’s power needs can be met without affecting electricity supply in other parts of the country.
“There are several options,” Garin said, noting that whether the requirement is 50 megawatts (MW) or as much as 5,000 MW, “we can supply that.”
“But we just need to make sure that anything we do – power, data center, or hub – will not put the rest of the country at a disadvantage,” she added.
Garin said the DOE is also drafting a circular covering the construction of power projects in the Central Luzon area, where several renewable energy (RE) developments are planned.
DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevarra said the agency’s immediate priority is to identify power companies capable of developing embedded generation facilities within the project site.
Initially, the DOE wants to determine which interested power firms can establish embedded generation because “it’s the easiest part.”
“You will not need to transmit it from a faraway place,” Guevarra said.
She added that the government also needs to determine the annual rollout schedule of the project’s additional power requirements to properly plan transmission, distribution, and generation facilities.
“At the end of the day, the bottom line is that we need to be able to secure the commitment of these locators in Pax Silica because any generator to put up a plant will need 20 years to recover the cost of their investment,” Guevarra said.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., during his fifth State of the Nation Address on Monday, described Pax Silica as a key component of the Luzon Economic Corridor and said the project is expected to strengthen the country’s role in the global artificial intelligence (AI) value chain.
According to the President, the planned technology hub “will bring quality jobs to our people, accelerate our industrial competitiveness, and revitalize our economy.”
He added that the facility is envisioned to become an advanced manufacturing and logistics center supporting the global AI and technology industry.
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