Perez urges firms to join renewable energy program

Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez called on private power companies yesterday to participate in the government’s program to enhance the use of renewable energy sources.

"We are pleased that private power companies have heeded the call of the government to undertake power projects utilizing indigenous sources of fuel. We hope that other private firms will follow through as several studies have shown that the Philippines is endowed with abundant indigenous sources of energy, including wind power," Perez said.

Perez was referring to the recent effort of the First Philippine Energy (Corp. (FPEC), owned by the Lopez group, to promote the use of renewable energy for power generation after the company won the bid to construct a wind-diesel hybrid generating plant in Batanes.

The energy chief said by next week, the Department of Energy (DOE) will come up with its new target on the share of renewable energy for the next 10 years.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Heherson Alvarez, for his part, has said that they are looking at the possibility of reducing the use of coal power plants in exchange for the utilization of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.

"It would be better if we can work out that we reduce 10-percent utilization of coal and add this to the use of renewable energy sources," Alvarez said.

Early this week, FPEC, together with Australia-based Advanced Energy Systems Ltd. and Vergnet S.A. of France, announced it had won a P50-million design and construction of a wind-diesel hybrid generating plant. The plant is seen to generate 180 kilowatts of electricity.

Another local firm, Northwind Power Development Corp., plans to construct an initial 20-MW wind farm to be located in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte. The project, which is envisioned to be implemented in three stages, may ultimately reach a total capacity of 60 MW.

Results of the recent wind mapping study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the United States show that the Philippines has a potential capacity for wind power of about 70,000-MW.

Based on the Wind Energy Resources Atlas of the Philippines prepared by the NREL, areas identified as possible sites for wind power projects aside from Ilocos Norte include: Batanes; Busuanga and Cuyo Islands in Palawan; Casiguran and Polilio Islands in Quezon; Lubang Island in Mindoro Oriental; Marinduque; Masbate and Siquijor.