PRESIDENT Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. welcomed the P18-billion 440-megawatt (MW) Isabela solar power project as a boost to the administration's renewable energy thrust, Malacañang said Sunday.

Officials of the San Ignacio Energy Resources Development Corp. (SIERDC), the main project implementer, briefed the President in a meeting at the Palace last week.

SIERDC is part of the Nextnorth Energy Group, which is developing solar and hydro projects in Northern Luzon.

It is an affiliate of Nextnorth Holdings Corp., a Philippine-based renewable energy (RE) developer of solar and hydro projects with around 480-MW potential energy capacity. The company will begin the project next year on a 400-hectare land in Ilagan City, Isabela used for sugarcane and bioethanol production. It is expected to start operations by 2025.

Once completed, the solar project could generate around 700 gigawatt-hours a year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of around 1 million households. Apart from supplying electricity, the project is also expected to provide jobs to around 2,200 workers during various phases of construction, and more permanent workers when the facility becomes operational.

SIERDC has tapped French RE company Total Eren to implement the project. Total Eren owns more than 3,700 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind capacity in operation or under construction, and has over 4,000 MW of projects under development worldwide.

The company has a 60-MW peak solar PV plant in Tarlac.

TotalEnergies, another France-based company, is Total Eren's shareholder, and has been operating in the Philippines since 1998.

SIERDC and Total Eren signed a joint agreement last December to develop the Isabela solar project, with Total Eren providing financial and technical expertise.