Danish fund investing up to $30 million in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Denmark-based Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) is boosting investments in the Philippines to $30 million by the middle of 2025 to rev up its planned massive wind projects.

“Our intention until about mid-next year, where we expect the GEAP (green energy auction program) to take place, is to spend roughly $30 million or so on development activities,” CIP partner Robert Helms said.

He noted that a “good part” of these investments has already been “contractually committed.”

“We are working very hard on the procurement of all the components that we will need. We’re also contributing very much to shaping next year’s GEAP for offshore wind,” CIP associate partner Przemek Lupa said.

In 2022, the government lifted the foreign ownership limits in the renewable energy (RE) sector, and CIP has since become the first 100 percent foreign-owned company to obtain service contracts from the Department of Energy.

CIP is now gearing up for the development of 2,000-megawatt (MW) offshore wind projects in northern Samar, Camarines Sur and Pangasinan, with a groundbreaking investment of $5 billion.

It likewise intends to invest $500 million to build and activate a 300-MW onshore wind project in northern Luzon, where wind conditions are claimed to be “highly favorable.”

The construction of these projects is expected around a couple of years, with completion targeted within the term of President Marcos.

Currently, the company is seeking a pre-development environmental compliance certificate, a prerequisite to secure the environmental compliance certificate to jumpstart the construction phase.

“We can say that our ambition is quite high in the country. I would say that we’re really hungry to be able to deploy our expertise and capital, but I would say watch the space in the next few months,” Lupa said.