Laguna Bay solar farm not Asia’s largest, not funded via Marcos infra program

Claim: The largest solar farm in Asia will be built under the Marcos administration on Laguna Bay.

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The post containing the claim has 2,300 shares, 1,300 comments, and 26,000 reactions, as of writing.

The bottom line: The Tengger Desert Solar Park in Zhongwei City of Ningxia, China is the largest solar power station not just in Asia, but in the world, built over 43,000 square kilometers or 4.3 million hectares.

According to 2018 data of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, Tengger generates 1,547 megawatts (MW) of electricity, setting the record for the largest operational solar project in the world. As of September 2022, China has started building a three-gigawatt solar photovoltaic complex in the said location. Once operationalized, the project will generate an annual 5.78 million MW.

Meanwhile, the floating solar farm to be constructed on Laguna de Bay or Laguna Lake will produce 1,300 MW of electricity after construction is completed in 2024.

Not a Marcos Jr.-initiated project: The said solar farm is a joint development project of Singapore-based, solar energy company Blue Leaf Energy and local firm SunAsia Energy Inc. Their partnership agreement was formally signed in June 2021.

Under the agreement, the floating solar farm would be installed on the water surface of the lake spanning the cities of Calamba and Sta. Rosa, and the towns of Bay and Victoria. The project is not funded by the Marcos administration as the graphic wrongly implies.

Since 2018, the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) has been exploring plans to mount solar farms in its area. It was only in February 2022 that LLDA granted 2,000 hectares of the lake’s estimated 90,000 hectares for floating solar projects. – Ailla Dela Cruz/Rappler.com

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