Citicore Renewable Energy Corp. (CREC) has generated fresh funding of P9 billion from Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) to bankroll its aggressive solar power rollout nationwide.

CREC President and CEO Oliver Tan said on Monday that the infused capital, which is only the first tranche of a P20-billion financing deal with RCBC, will aid the company's goal of delivering its target of one gigawatt this year.

Particularly, the proceeds of the initial funding tranche will be allocated for CREC's solar power plant ventures in Batangas, Pampanga, and Negros Occidental.

Meanwhile, the subsequent tranches will be used to support the completion of additional generating capacity from CREC's pipeline of projects in various stages of development.

CREC is scheduled to start the commercial operations of the first and second phases of the Negros Occidental project in September 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Meanwhile, the anticipated commercial operation dates for the first and second phases of each of the Batangas and Pampanga projects are in December 2024 and 2025, respectively.

According to CREC, the solar power plant projects in Batangas, Pampanga, and Negros Occidental are integral to its target of contributing approximately one GW of solar energy capacity per year under its five-year pipeline rollout roadmap.

As of December 2023, renewable energy accounted for 29 percent of the country's installed capacity and 22 percent of its gross power generation.

The Department of Energy (DOE) aims to increase the share of renewable energy in the power generation mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.