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MANILA, Philippines – If having solar farms is the key to reducing the Philippines’ dependency on coal, why aren’t there enough of them in the country?

What’s often left out is the fact that solar power projects tend to compete with agriculture for land.

In this episode of Business Sense, Citicore Energy REIT president and chief executive officer Oliver Tan explains how they are both “aggressive” and “careful” in expanding their portfolio.

“We try to coexist with the agricultural intent of the land. We are very careful…and coexist with the farmers by planting high value crops underneath our solar panel table along the aisle to augment the income of the farmers,” Tan said.

Tan also emphasized that they are looking at idle agricultural land for upcoming projects.

Citicore Energy REIT is set to list on the main board of the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, February 22. – Rappler.com