CAPAS, Tarlac – StB GigaFactory, Inc., a battery manufacturer funded by an Australian investment company, is ramping up its investment in the Philippines by more than threefold, its chief executive officer Dennis Chan Ibarra said.
Ibarra said in an interview during the One Clark Forum Friday last week that the company hiked the investment in its first Philippine factory to USD35 million (PHP2 billion).
StB GigaFactory produces batteries for energy storage backup for solar photovoltaic for residential, commercial, and industrial uses.
The battery manufacturer is building its facility at the Filinvest Innovation Park (FIP) in New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
StB GigaFactory is also the first locator in Filinvest Land, Inc.’s project in New Clark City, the flagship project of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
“We're going to accelerate our plans to triple the volume to 2,000 megawatts. So it's two gigawatt hours. So that's world-class scale,” Ibarra said.
He said the company initially targeted to attain the 2 GwH capacity within four years “and it could be accelerated” depending on the market demand.
Ibarra said the factory aims to go online in July this year.
“By next year, we'll have one-third of it running,” he said, adding that the factory will have a total production capacity of around 670 MW.
Ibarra said the StB GigaFactory eyes to export 70 percent of its output, with the first shipment from the factory going to Australia and Southeast Asian countries, also serving the Philippine market.
The additional investment for StB GigaFactory is part of the PHP86 billion (USD1.53 billion) worth of business deals that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. bagged from his official visit to Australia last March. (PNA)
