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FIRST SOLAR-POWERED COMMUNITY IN PHL January 21, 2015 Department of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla inspects the country’s first solar-powered community built by Imperial Homes Corp.’s (IHC) located in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Via Verde addressed the growing backlog in housing as well as issues on climate change and energy conservation. IHC’s mass housing project is the receipient of the EDGE Certificate from International Finance Corp. (IFC)-World Bank. -Business Mirror |
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IMPERIAL HOMES LAUNCHES PIONEERING SUN-POWERED HOUSING IN BATANGAS January 16, 2015 Real- estate developer Imperial Homes Corp.(IHC) officially launched its solar-powered mas-housing community project here- the first of its kind in the Philippines. Emma Imperial, IHC chairman, president and CEO, told the Business Mirror at the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony on Wednesday that each of the 1,000 housing units of Via Verde are instaled with 500-watt solar panels for free to allow home buyers to enjoy lower electricity rates through the lease-back program of their partner firm, Enfinity. She said the project aims to address the country’s backlog on mass housing currently pegged at 3 million, as well as help provide a greener solution against the worsening effects of climate change. “I’ve been 31 years in the business. I’ve built 15,000 homes, and this is my first solar-powered community. I thought of it four years ago [when] I started looking at solar solutions for my low-cost [housing projects],” she said. “I beieve that if you have the numbers and volume of houses, you can create a mega-watt project,” she said. IHC invested around P600 million of assets for via Verde, which is expected to be completed in 12 to 18 months. This pioneering solar-powered community is located in more than a 3-hectare property, featuring row houses and two-bedroom townhomes. With nou-front cost on the part of the home buyers, Enfinity Group will finance the solar panels for all the units, which, based on Pag-IBIG Fund’s appraisal, will cost around P70,000 a piece. The sun-energized homes are seen helpful in reducing the cost of electricity, at least 10 percent to 20 percent lower than Meralco rate, according to the top executive. Collectively, she said, IHC’s contribution to renewable global efforts will translate to $1.4 billion in fossil-fuel consumption and 941, 000 tons of carbon-emission elimination annually. Via Verde is anchored on the Tranformation Busines Model presented by Imperial during the World bank Housing Conference in the United States and the International Finance Corp.’s Climate Business Forum in Hong Kong last year. “We’ve been trying to push solar [power] in various homes because it’s difficult to actually install, for example, a 2-kilowatt [solar panel] on a per-household basis. It has to be on a massive scale. And this is the classic example that we have right now,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said. “Hopefully, this will set a trend toward the new kind of housing projects that we will have in the future, whether it is in Batangas or in metro manila,” he said. Any time soon , IHC is expecting Via Verde to receive World Bank’s EDGE Certificate for Green Building. The company is keen on selling solar rights to existing homeowners to increae the number of solar-based users among its projects. |
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SOLAR-POWERED COMMUNITY’S GATE OPENS January 15, 2015 A solar-powered home is not unusual in a middle- to upper-class neighborhood. But rows and rows of houses in a village that’s home to ploretariat would be out of the ordinary and refreshing, literally and figuratively. That’s how Via Verde looks like. It’s a solar-powered mass housing comunity in the municipality of Santo Tomas in Batangas province – the first of its kind according to its builder Imperial Homes Corp (IHC). It’s a step forward for the low-cost and socialized housing builder and IHC, which allotted P600 million for the project and tapped Belgium’s Enfinity Group as its partner. The community would open its doors yesterday with a grand launch. in there would be 1,000 homes- row houses and two-bedroom townhouses-planted on a three hectare property. Those homes are already equipped with 500-watt solar panels, allowing buyers to enjoy lower power rates through a leaseback proram. “[T]hese solar-powered homes will dramatically reduce the cost of electricity and provide a greener environment for our low cost housing projects,” Emma M. Imperil, IHC president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. Solar energy is ideal for communities like Via Verde because of its clean and sustainable nature, she said. “It actively contributes to the decrease of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. by not using any fuel, solar energy does not contribute to the cost and problems of the recovery and transporation of fuel or the storage of radioactive waste,” she said. IHC first bared this flagship development in November last year, when Ms.Imperial said the project will lower the owner’s electricity rates by least P1 per kilowatt hour. The Via Verde project forms part of IHC and Enfinity’s goal to install solar panels to 10,000 homes in several mass housing communities in the Luzon region within seven years. The first 2,500 units include Via Verde and two other projects: a 478-unit project in Iriga City, Camarines Sur and 1,022 houses in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. These are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The remaining 7,500 units will be located in several developments in Legazpi City, Albayand Silang, Cavite. It will also include the expansion of the Iriga project. under the agreed setup, Enfinity Group will operate and maintain the 500-watt facility on the rooftops. But residents have an option totap the renewable energy developer should they decide to hike the capacity of their solar facility. IHC first built low-cost homes in parts of Bicol Region, specifically in Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Sorsogon and Catanduanes. In 1993, the company started expanding and pushed through with the development of the properties in Las Pinas, Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and Nueva Ecija. The company has so far built 15,000 homes of mixed economic and middle-class housing projects. Meanwhile, Enfinity Group was established in 2005 to engage in development of solar technologies in Europe, north America and Asia-Pacific. Its local unit, Enfinity Philippines Renewable Resources, Inc. is looking to develop moe than 20 solar projects in the country. -Business World |
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FIRST SOLAR-POWERED COMMUNITY January 12, 2015 Department of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla inspects the country’s first solar-powered community built by Imperial Homes Corp.’s (IHC) located in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Via Verde addressed the growing backlog in housing as well as issues on climate change and energy conservation. IHC’s mass housing project is the receipient of the EDGE Certificate from International Finance Corp. (IFC)-World Bank. -Malaya |
