The World Bank Group is crafting an offshore wind investment roadmap for the Philippines, so this could help harness the potential of this resource and will add up to its future power generation capacity.
The launch of the project, as underpinned by a funding from the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), was announced last Monday (June 21).
“The project aims to identify areas in the Philippines with high potential for offshore wind development,” the Department of Energy (DOE) said.
The other focus of the investment roadmap study will be to: establish short and long-term offshore wind targets; as well as formulate strategies to successfully integrate offshore wind in the government’s renewable energy (RE) portfolio.
Part of the overarching goal also would be to recommend policies that are necessary in setting forth viable investment climate for offshore wind projects in various parts of the country.
For this particular undertaking, the World Bank had commissioned BVG Associates (BVGA) “to explore the technical, economic, environmental, social, employment and financing aspects of establishing an offshore wind market in the Philippines.”
Offshore wind investing is considerably very nascent in the Philippine energy market; with just few companies currently advancing investment targets in the sector so far.
The service contracts already awarded for planned offshore wind installations include those on: Guimaras Strait; Aparri Bay; Guimaras Strait II; Frontera Bay and San Miguel Bay wind power projects – that if concretized can yield potential of 5,000 megawatts.
Based on preliminary estimates of the multilateral lending firm, prospects for offshore wind installations that the domestic energy market can harness may reach up to 170,000 megawatts.
Mark Leybourne, co-lead of the World Bank Group Offshore Wind Development Program, noted that this new sphere of energy development for the Philippines, could “help fast-track meeting our goal of attaining 35-percent renewable energy (RE) share in our energy mix by year 2030.”
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi further asserted that the project “is another key milestone for the energy sector, as we continue to deepen our ability to harness the country’s vast RE resources.”