SEPH eyes onshore wind to grow renewable portfolio
Retail electricity supplier Shell Energy Philippines, Inc. (SEPH) is expanding its renewable energy (RE) portfolio to align with the Philippines' goal of increasing clean energy in its generation mix.
SEPH President and Chief Executive Officer Bernd Krukenberg told the Manila Bulletin that the company is exploring projects beyond solar developments, including onshore wind.
“We are focusing primarily on solar plus battery, so the integrated energy storage systems. We are also looking into onshore wind,” he stated at the Clean Energy Transition Forum of the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP).
While Krukenberg did not provide specific details on its wind energy plans, the company recently partnered with PetroSolar Corp. for a power supply agreement (PSA). The PSA involves the 20-megawatt (MW) capacity of the Tarlac-2 solar power plant, which will help meet SEPH's power needs.
SEPH has also teamed up with real estate developer Daiichi Properties to supply RE to its office buildings.
Currently, SEPH is a direct member of the Philippine Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), a centralized platform for power trading. The company supplies over 100 commercial and industrial clients, including those in real estate, manufacturing, education, and retail.
Krukenberg noted that SEPH has also partnered with a data facility to support the growing power demands of the country’s data center sector.
“We've signed an agreement with a data center... We want to grow that business. The other sectors we're looking into [are] semiconductors and electronic manufacturing—all those customers who have rather bulky demand,” he explained.
According to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines has a rising digital infrastructure market due to increasing demand for cloud-based storage and processing. ASEAN projects that the local data center market could potentially reach up to $1.97 billion in the next five years.