ACCIONA Energía held yesterday the groundbreaking ceremony for the Daanbantayan solar plant (176MWp) on the island of Cebu, the Philippines.
Attendees to the event included the Governor of Cebu, Gwendolyn García Fiel; the Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines, Miguel Utray; the Mayor of Daanbantayan, Sun Shimura; the Chairman of ACCIONA, José Manuel Entrecanales; and the Chief Financial and Sustainability Officer of ACCIONA Energía, José Entrecanales; among other authorities.
The project is located in the municipality of Daanbantayan, at the northern tip of the island and represents an investment of approximately €120 million. The solar plant is scheduled to begin operations in late 2026, with an expected production of 280GWh/year, equivalent to the consumption of more than 300,000 people.
The project will include a battery system to store energy generated by the plant, allowing electricity to be released during peak demand periods and helping to stabilize the power grid.
For the power distribution, ACCIONA Energía and the provincial government of Cebu have signed the country’s first public-private partnership (PPP) in the energy sector.
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Aligned with the Philippine Development Plan, this project supports the government’s goals of increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2050, ensuring energy security, and promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth. It also aims to be a tangible example of how clean energy can drive both the economy and social well-being.
Daanbantayan is ACCIONA Energía’s first photovoltaic plant in the Philippines and the largest under construction in the Visayas archipelago. The company recently began construction of the 100MW Kalayaan 2 Wind Farm in the Laguna province and announced the development of another 156MW wind farm in Pantabangan, 150 kilometers north of Manila.
ACCIONA has maintained a strong presence in the Philippines since 2016, primarily through its Water and Infrastructure divisions, delivering flagship projects such as the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) and the Putatan II and Laguna Lake water treatment plants. The acciona.org foundation began working with remote and underserved communities in the country in 2021, helping areas which had neither access to basic electricity service nor any expectation of connection to the conventional electricity grid in the short term. Through collaborations with the Ayala Foundation and, especially, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development, ACCIONA is already helping 2,600 households, small businesses and community centers.
