Solar Philippines through PT Medcosolar Bali Timur, its joint venture (JV) firm with Medco Energi, has signed a loan agreement with Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) for the construction of a 25 megawatts (MW) solar farm in East Bali, Indonesia, the largest ground-mounted solar project in that country.
The JV began construction of the first 25 MW in East Bali last year. Costing $20 million, the project is funded by a combination of BNI’s credit facility and equity invested by Medco and Solar Philippines.
In a statement over the weekend, the parties said the loan which was finalized last month reached around $14 million.
Solar Philippines owns 49 percent of PT Medcosolar Bali Timur as well as another 49 percent of PT Medco Solar Bali Barat, which is developing another 25 MW solar farm in West Bali.
These bring total capacity of the Solar Philippines JV with Medco in Bali to 50 MW.
The JV plans to energize the first 25 MW Bali project by the end of 2024 followed by the next 25 MW for a total of 50 MW of Bali projects by 2025.
Medco Energi is considered the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production company in Indonesia.
In 2017, Solar Philippines began developing its Bali solar projects and in 2019, formed the JV with Medco to submit a bid in the first competitive auction for utility-scale solar in Indonesia.
Indonesia c has one of the world’s lowest solar capacity per capita, with an estimated 500 MW of solar operating in a country of 279 million people.
