The Department of Energy (DOE) and World Bank Group are soliciting inputs from industry stakeholders that they can incorporate in firming up the Offshore Wind Roadmap that will eventually serve as investment guide for such renewable energy (RE) installations in the country.
In a recent consultation-webinar, preliminary findings had been presented by the World Bank on the proposed Offshore Wind Roadmap – and that was done in collaboration with its partner BVG Associates as well as with the DOE.
According to the energy department, the initial outcome of the study touched on technical, economic, environmental, social, employment and financing aspects for the targeted developments of offshore wind power projects in the Philippines.
“The roadmap also assesses the offshore wind’s potential role in the country’s future electricity mix and presents practical pathways to deliver a pipeline of bankable projects,” the DOE stated.
As emphasized by Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella, “offshore wind can help the country achieve key objectives,” with him adding that the study “will help the DOE power the Filipino community through clean, cost effective and financeable technology that will also create new local supply chain opportunities and transform the lives of men and women and the generations to come.”
Jie Tang, energy practice manager for East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank, gives credit to the Philippine government’s efforts on “increasing the renewable energy targets in the recently published Philippine Energy Plan (for 2020-2040); and participating in a new pilot program for the early retirement of coal-fired power plants.”
On seeking feedback from key actors in the Philippine energy sector on the potential of offshore wind developments, Mark Leybourne, co-lead of the World Bank Group’s offshore wind development program noted that such process, will help calibrate the “way forward for offshore wind in the Philippines.”
Bruce Valpy, team lead of BVG and Associates, specified that “we are keen to help the government of the Philippines make the right decisions about offshore wind, finding a route to provide consumers with reliable, stable, affordable and clean power whilst growing an industry that provides safe, long-term jobs."
He nevertheless acknowledged that “there are challenges to address, but with this positive spirit, offshore wind can deliver much benefit to the Philippines over the next 20 years.”
Such initiative in the Philippines is one of a series of offshore wind roadmap studies commissioned by the World Bank Group under the joint Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP)-International Finance Corporation (IFC) Offshore Wind Development Program.
The energy department emphasized that the crafting of the roadmap is a key activity that “provides transparency on the development of the needed policies to support the stakeholders, particularly the renewable energy developers.”
While offshore wind is already a flourishing RE technology in most energy markets, the Philippines has yet to concretize a pioneering venture on this sphere of project development.