THE Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday said that it will pursue legal action against Rep. Leandro Leviste’s Solar Philippines Power Project Holdings Inc. to pay around P24 billion because of several solar power service contracts totaling 11,427 megawatts (MW) that were terminated over non-performance. Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said in a media briefing the agency will pursue all related obligations as this development has set back the country’s plan to increase its total capacity. “Out of the 17,904 MW of terminated contracts for 2024 and 2025, Solar Philippines’s contracts would be around 11,427 MW, more or less equivalent to 64 percent of the terminated service contracts,” Garin said. “Solar Philippines has about P24 billion in total contractual obligations that they need to address. And to clarify, we will pursue these obligations to all the developers that have had their contracts terminated. We will file whatever cases we have to file, whether it’s civil, criminal, administrative, or if there’s any anti-competitive behavior, we will do so,” she added. In relation to this, Garin said they have sent letters to Solar Philippines regarding this matter for the longest time until the termination, but she said the company did not respond. On a related matter, the DOE said a total 163 renewable energy service contracts were terminated during 2024 and 2025 totaling 17,904.02 MW. Out of the 163 contracts, 33 were under Solar Philippines. Garin said they had to cancel these contracts because they were not doing anything and were not complying with the requirements in accordance with their Green Energy Auction contract. “This could have covered the annual increase of our electricity demand in the country. And again, we waited until the last minute, as we were hoping that they will deliver,” Garin said. Garin said the filing against the erring companies was not to scare off investors, but to make sure that legitimate ones get a chance at those contracts. “We at the DOE will not allow fly-by-night developers to get these contracts and reserve the areas for themselves and then in the end, they will not do anything with it,” Garin said. The Manila Times tried but was unable to reach Leviste for comment.