European firm Mainstream Renewable Power (Mainstream) has signed service contracts with the Department of Energy (DOE) for two greenfield onshore wind power projects to be developed separately at demarcated sites in Luzon and Visayas grids.

The service contracts were secured by Mainstream on 100% foreign ownership basis, sensibly following the lead of other foreign investors which opted to pursue renewable energy (RE) projects since the country had relaxed equity restrictions for solar and wind installations in 2022.

The targeted wind farm ventures of Mainstream will be the 100-megawatt Santa Ana wind project in Cagayan province; and the 340MW Panaon wind farm in Panaon island in Leyte. The signing of the service contracts had been witnessed by Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla and Norwegian Ambassador to the Philippines Christian Lyster.

“Mainstream will be bringing in financial muscle and technological heft to work with our world-class workers throughout the construction and operational phases of all these projects, which means more employment for our people and livelihood opportunities in these areas,” the energy chief stressed.

Mainstream, which has its headquarters in Dublin, Ireland is majority owned by Norway-based Aker Horizons; and the other key shareholder is Mitsui & Co. Ltd. of Japan while the balance is held by Irish shareholders. The company has investment portfolios across Asia Pacific; as well as in Latin America and Africa.

The wind energy service contracts of Mainstream, according to Lotilla, will “further accelerate the implementation of the thrust of the Marcos Jr. Administration to develop the country's indigenous and renewable sources of energy following the lifting of foreign ownership restrictions on renewable energy development.”

Lyster similarly indicated that the investment of the Norwegian-led company is a serious-minded response to the DOE’s efforts in “creating conducive conditions for renewable energy development in the Philippines,” adding that Norway is continually cementing its partnership with the Philippines, primarily in the latter’s determined shift to renewable energy developments.

If the project sponsor will succeed in the commercial development of the two projects, these will eventually add 440 megawatts of clean energy supply for the Philippines.

“The projects represent Mainstream's first wholly owned onshore wind service contracts in the Philippines and one of the first 100 percent foreign-owned companies to develop the country's indigenous and renewable energy sources,” the DOE said.

Mainstream General Manager for Asia Pacific Eduardo Karlin emphasized that the new contracts will reinforce their investment portfolio growth in the Philippines – and this serves as a valuable follow-through to the initial joint venture that the company had sealed with Aboitiz Power for a wind farm installation in Camarines Sur.

“We continue to grow our development footprint across the Philippines,” he noted, adding that “we are committed to the Philippine market and well-placed to be part of the country's energy transition and assist the government in reaching their targets of 35 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050.”

Mainstream’s presence in the Philippines dates back to 2017 – and its technical and commercial teams are already involved in the project being pursued with Aboitiz Power, an installation that had been underwritten with 20-year power supply agreement awarded through the DOE-administered green energy auction (GEA) and its capacity is up for delivery by 2026.