Philippines - Energy dept to offer 18 sites for wind power development

Following the inauguration of the largest wind farm in Southeast Asia, the Philippine Department of Energy will offer 18 further wind power sites for development, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said. Ten of the sites are in Luzon, seven in the Visayas, and one in Mindanao, and will be offered during the Second Wind Power Contracting Round that will be held within the year, Lotilla said. At the First Philippine Wind Power Contracting Round held earlier this year, the department offered 16 wind power sites for development and gave three companies pre-commercial contracts to develop five sites in Luzon and the Visayas.

Philippine Hybrid Energy Systems Inc. received three contracts for wind projects in Marinduque province, Baleno town in the province of Masbate, and in Tablas town in Romblon province, which together have a capacity of 30 MW. Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corp. was awarded a contract for a 30 MW project in Sual town in the province of Pangasinan, and San Carlos Wind Power Corp. was given a contract to develop a 25 MW facility in San Carlos City in the province of Negros Occidental. The three companies are conducting wind assessments in their respective areas. Lotilla said the bidders for the 11 other sites were in the process of getting pre-commercial contracts. To be inaugurated is a 24.75 MW wind power project of Northwind Power Development Corp. at Bangui Bay in the northern province of Ilocos Norte.

The wind farm, the first in the Philippines and the biggest in Southeast Asia, will harness strong sea winds with 15 towers that have an installed capacity of 1.65 MW each. "This project shows the government's persistence at tapping indigenous and renewable energy sources," Lotilla said. "We need ... to harness our own energy sources and not be forever held hostage by volatile international oil prices." He added that being an archipelago the Philippines has a lot of wind potential, as shown in wind power studies by various agencies.