Former US Vice President Al Gore has visited the new SM Mall of Asia solar car park.
The scale of car park has made the facility the world’s largest sun-powered mall.
The 2.7 megawatts carpark is nearly twice the size of the 1.5 megawatt SM North Edsa Solar car park, making it one of the world’s largest on-site solar projects.
With 10,426 solar panels and 40 inverters, the solar car park supplies nearly 20 per cent of the mall’s power needs. Over 30 years, it is expected to offset over 80,000 tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to planting over 400,000 trees.
The project relies on zero government incentives, powering the mall at below utility rates. This demonstrates how, owing to high electricity prices and sunlight levels, the Philippines is one of the first markets to reach “grid parity,” where clean energy is also the cheapest form of energy.
Solar Philippines constructed and financed the solar car park. The company supplies the power to SM Mall of Asia under a long-term agreement at below utility rates.
Gore was in Manila for his three-day Climate Reality workshop on climate change and its solutions.
