Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) has secured PHP 35.014 billion, or about $552 million, in syndicated project financing for a 900 MW solar portfolio with 120 MWh of battery storage in the Philippines, pv magazine reports. It is the company's largest syndicated loan facility to date.
The deal
The financing comes from three Philippine lenders: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and two state-owned banks, Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines. CREC is listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The loan will fund five solar projects in Batangas province, south of Manila. Two of them are 300 MW plants. The other three are 100 MW plants, each paired with a 40 MWh battery energy storage system, for a total of 120 MWh of storage.
Backed by the national auction
All five projects won offtake allocations in the Department of Energy's fourth Green Energy Auction, known as GEA-4, which was held in 2025. They will sell their output under 20-year electricity supply contracts that start at commercial operation. The GEA-4 round as a whole has a delivery window from 2026 to 2029.
The Green Energy Auction programme has become the main route for large renewable projects in the Philippines. By offering long-term contracts at fixed prices, it gives developers the revenue certainty that banks need to lend at this scale.
A fast-growing developer
CREC already operates 374 MW of solar and 560 MWh of battery storage in Batangas, and another 198 MW of solar is nearing completion there. The company says that concentrating its projects in one province can improve execution efficiency.
Earlier in October, CREC reported that it had reached 1 GW of installed renewable capacity. It aims to reach 5 GW within five years.
National targets
The Philippines wants renewable energy to supply 35% of its generation mix by 2030 and 50% by 2040. Large solar portfolios such as the one in Batangas, combined with battery storage, are an important part of reaching those targets. Each new auction round adds to the pipeline of projects that need financing.
What has not been disclosed
The company has not published the battery power ratings, storage durations or suppliers, nor the loan tenor, interest rates, tariffs or the commissioning schedule for each project.
What it means
For the Asia-Pacific region, the deal shows that domestic banks in emerging markets are now able to finance solar at gigawatt scale when projects hold long-term auction contracts. The participation of two state-owned lenders also signals strong government support for the energy transition. For developers and suppliers, the Philippines is becoming one of the most active solar and storage markets in Southeast Asia, with clear auction rounds, bankable contracts and a growing pipeline of large projects.
Source: pv magazine.
