The Energy Secure Philippines (ESP) project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is extending development assistance to the Philippine government for the right-skilling and upskilling of workers in the flourishing offshore wind industry of the country.

The American aid agency has been closely collaborating with the Department of Energy (DOE) as well as the other relevant players, funders and other stakeholders in the offshore wind industry to advance this agenda, and position the country as a ‘major hub’ of technically skilled RE workers.

“ESP is supporting the offshore wind development program of the DOE,” the USAID noted, adding that several capacity-building activities were already carried out when it comes to targeted skills enhancement for the prospective workforce in the offshore wind sector.

“The DOE has been actively supporting the President’s call for right-skilling and upskilling of Filipino workers…so, we’re helping DOE in line with the development assistance of Energy Secure Philippines in increasing the share of RE into the grid,” the USAID emphasized.

As indicated by the DOE, many of the past and recent power plant developments in the country did not actually lean on Filipino workers for majority of the technical components of the installations, instead, the power project sponsors have been importing human resources to deliver on those work scopes in the projects.

Such experience then serves as impetus on the DOE’s drive for upskilling and right-skilling of the local workers, that way, the billion-dollar investments flowing into the renewable energy (RE) sector could tangibly create jobs for the Filipino people.

At this stage, the American agency specified that one crucial development being awaited is the release of the marine spatial planning (MSP), which will then serve as a guide how offshore wind projects could be sustainably developed at the open sea sites.

“We are waiting for the results of the marine spatial planning which would basically define eligible areas for offshore wind. We hope that would come out very soon, because that will really define a clear pathway on how we’re going to map out and integrate offshore wind energy into the Philippine Energy Plan,” the US agency stated.

By far, the industry expectation is for the MSP to be formally issued by the first half of 2024; but while waiting for that crucial study outcome and policy enforcement, most of the investors in the offshore wind industry are now seriously navigating the permitting landscape of the sector –

not just at the level of the national government agencies (NGAs), but also with their host-local government units.

The complex web of permitting for RE projects is another area that USAID has been helping on reinforcing competencies, especially for the integration of the LGUs’ processes into the energy virtual one-stop shop (EVOSS) that is under the charge of the energy department.

“EVOSS is looking at the pathways for offshore wind energy; and how we want to integrate offshore wind,” USAID stressed.