Leandro Leviste Profile: 21-Year-Old Founder & President of Solar Philippines

The newest and most ambitious company to engage in the Philippines power sector, Leandro Leviste, the 21-year-old founder of Solar Philippines had a huge dreams for the country’s energy needs. The President of Solar Philippines partnered with the country’s biggest mall provider SM Prime Holdings for his company’s ambitious projects.

Leandro Leviste: The 21-Year-Old Founder & Pres. of Solar Philippines

Leandro Leviste is just 21 years old and still an undergraduate at Yale University but already made a huge impact in the Philippine energy sector. He is the son of Senator Loren Legarda with ex-husband businessman Tony Leviste.

In an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN, Leandro Leviste revealed that last summer he saw the opportunity of providing solar power in the Philippines as companies in the US and Europe were doing the same thing, despite the fact that the country’s electricity rates are much higher.

The young Leviste was quoted as saying “Last summer, I saw this opportunity. Companies in the US and Europe are doing the same thing, but no one was doing this in the Philippines where the electricity rates are so much higher. So I said, someone has to take this opportunity right now,” he noted.

The graduating Yale student is confident about the prospects of solar power in the Philippines, after Solar Philippines switched on its biggest project so far in the country at the SM North EDSA on Monday, November 24, 2014.

Leandro Leviste’s company Solar Philippines partnered with SM for the solar-powered rooftop project, which turned SM North into the biggest solar-powered mall in the world. The Solar Philippines and SM Solar Project has 5,760 solar panels installed, which can generate up to 1.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power the mall’s 16,00o light fixtures, 59 escalators and 20 elevators.

Aside from the SM North EDSA Project, Solar Philippines is also putting up solar panels at SM Dasmarinas in Cavite and SM Mall of Asia. According to Leandro Leviste, Solar Philippines is eyeing more solar panel projects for malls in the country, with two of its projects to start operating in December, 2014.

Solar Philippines is now on its way to become the Philippines’ top solar power provider and Southeast Asia’s largest developer of rooftop power plants. The company offers solar financing, design and construction for commercial customers at zero cost and supplies electricity at below utility rates.