The Village Sports Club (VSC), a 1.8-hectare exclusive club inside BF Homes in Paranaque City, is going green and sustainable with solar rooftops, making it the first sports membership club in the country to undertake this project.
The management of VSC has decided to go green, with the goal of promoting a healthy and sustainable lifestyle for the members and, at the same time, cutting down electricity costs and carbon footprint of the club, VSC president Paul Michael Garcia said in an email interview.
“Solar power is beneficial to the Village Sports Club in two ways. First, it maintains our stand to be a responsible club in which we help the environment by reducing our carbon footprint. Secondly, this will provide us a long-term subsidy benefit – cutting down the cost of our monthly electric bill,” he said.
As the pandemic affected movement restrictions across the country, the VSC’s operation has become a challenge due to the limited number of hours and numbers of members and guests using the club, affecting revenues while maintenance of the facilities is continuous—and which is why the club considered the plan.
“We’ve always strived to keep our overhead low amidst every increasing cost. With solar energy, it will help us achieve that goal. Additionally, the savings will be used for future projects in the form of maintenance, upgrades, and new facilities for the club,” Garcia said.
VSC has partnered with Invenic Hexagon Peak Philippines (Invenic) through a power purchase agreement (PPA) on August 10 to install the 200-kilowatt-peak (kwp) solar rooftop project.
The PPA allows VSC little to zero cost to install the solar energy project. Under the deal, Invenic will arrange the design, permitting, financing, and installation of the solar energy system that will generate power in the club.
In turn, the club will be paying at a fixed rate that is typically lower than the local utility’s retail rate – which would have a total of approximately P113,704 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) savings monthly.
Installation of the 455 solar panels would start next month, with a target to complete before the end of the year.
“The solar panel that we will install in VSC is a Tier 1 Solar Panel. Tier 1 is the international standard according to company manufacturing capacity and financial stability. This panel will provide a 25-year performance guarantee,” Invenic technical director Albert Herejias said.
The 200-kwp solar project will allow VSC to harvest 777.7 kwh daily, enough to power the operation of more than 15 air-conditioning units simultaneously with several electrical gym equipment in the club, which is already a big contribution to lessen the monthly electrical bill of the Club, Herejias said.
Apart from cutting down energy costs, Invenic COO Edmund Yen said VSC’s decision to install a solar rooftop project would raise the commercial value and drive future green and sustainable plans of the club.
“We see a great potential for Solar PV’s system installation with VSC as a first ever sport club in the Philippines with solar renewable energy as an alternate source of energy and also promote and support Global CO2 emission reduction program and cost savings program,” Yen said.
The VSC is an exclusive club inside BF Homes, Parañaque City developed by PNC Garnet Property Holdings Corp. of the Garcia family, one of the first residents in BF Homes.
The 1.8-hectare facility boasts of world class sports facilities, luxurious recreational features and sumptuous dining and banquet services used by its 1,797 active members including the principal members, spouse, minor and senior dependents.
Its sports facilities include basketball, badminton, bowling, dance studio, gym, outdoor field, outdoor archery range, futsal, running path, lap pool, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball.
It also has four restaurants, a grand ballroom, several function rooms and meeting rooms.