DOE unveils wind power farm plans

To boost power supply in the Visayas, particularly Cebu, Negros and Panay islands, the Department of Energy has revealed its plans to build wind power farms in San Carlos City and Hilutungan in Negros.

During the recent meeting of the Infrastructure Development Committee of the Regional Development Council, the DOE said that wind farms in Negros are now under thorough study and are being undertaken by a private company. It added that if the project would push through, it would be operational by February 2007.

DOE regional director Antonio Labios, in a presentation to the committee recently, said that southern Negros is potential site for wind-based power because of the constant wind in the area that could generate power.

Besides, he said that San Carlos City and Hilutungan can benefit from the project because these areas have no transmission lines.

The department is seeking RDC's approval of the proposed wind farm projects to boost the energy supply of the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid.

Energy officials also claimed that southern Negros is an important loop because once the project materializes, the power it supplied could be transmitted to other parts of the Visayas that need additional power.

DOE said that other areas that are potential for wind power source include Batanes and Babuyan Islands, Ilocos Norte, Mindoro, Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Palawan.

It said that wind-based power is a very practical way of electrifying remote and far-flung areas that are off the power grid, adding its goal is to install wind-based power projects with a capacity of at least 417 megawatts in the next 10 years.

The DOE announced that the Philippines has untapped wind resources. The wind resource analysis and mapping study conducted by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory, using Geographic Information System technology, showed that many areas in the country are of good-to- excellent wind resource for village power applications, particularly in its northern and central regions.

These wind power resources are found in Batanes and Babuyan Islands north of Luzon, the northwest tip of Luzon (Ilocos Norte); the higher interior terrain of Luzon, Mindoro, Samar, Leyte, Panay, Negros, Cebu, Palawan, Eastern Mindanao, and adjacent islands; well-exposed east-facing locations from northern Luzon southward to Samar; the wind corridors between Luzon and Mindanao (including Lubang Island) and between Mindoro and Panay (including the Semirara Islands; and extending to the Cuyo Islands.

Potential areas considered feasible for using wind energy include 686 sites in Luzon and 305 in Visayas.

Aside from being clean and sustainable, alternative or renewable sources of energy are replenished unlike gas, coal and other oil-based products, which may be depleted, the DOE said.- Wenna A. Berondo