Government urged to have stake in 1st offshore wind project

MANILA, Philippines —  The government should take part and have a stake in the development of the country’s first offshore wind project, according to Developers of Renewable Energy for AdvanceMent president Jay Layug.

“Since offshore wind is a huge project, maybe the government wants to also have a stake there because it’s a landmark project and it’s huge in scale,” Layug said.

Offshore wind energy has been identified by the Department of Energy (DOE) as one of its top priorities in the country’s renewable energy sector.

The agency earlier said the current rule of thumb for offshore wind project investment is about $5 million per megawatt (MW), which is expected to go down eventually as more projects get deployed.

Asked on his thoughts on the proposal of the government having a stake in the first offshore wind project, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said “it depends on the availability of government financing.”

“But there are other ways where government can assist. For example in terms of the rights to use the submarine, the sea floor or in the case offshore areas, there needs to be a transmission operator for offgrid. Well there are possibilities,” Lotilla said.

“In other words, where government can facilitate, we should be open in considering facilitating,” he said.

The DOE to date has awarded a total of 82 offshore wind projects with a potential capacity of 63.359 gigawatts (GW).

These projects are located north of Luzon, west of Metro Manila, north and south of Mindoro, Panay, and Guimaras Strait.

The DOE said all these wind energy service contracts are in the pre-development stage, where assessments on resources site suitability and project viability are being undertaken.

The agency hopes to have the Philippines’ first offshore wind project operational before the term of the current administration ends.

Last year, the Philippines Offshore Wind Roadmap was launched, showcasing the country’s potential offshore wind resources estimated at 178 GW.

“In the updated Philippine Energy Plan which we will be releasing soon, we have included offshore wind in our country’s portfolio of renewable energy as we aspire to achieve 35 percent of renewable energy in our power generation mix by 2030 leading to a clean and sustainable energy future,” Lotilla said.