Local offshore wind (OSW) proponents on Sunday called on the government to consider taking an equity stake in ongoing projects to help the industry.
Jay Layug, legal counsel of the Pilipinas Offshore Wind Energy Resource Inc. (POWER), noted the government has been involved in such key energy areas as oil and gas in the past, for instance: “Offshore wind is a big project so maybe the government would want to have a stake because it’s a landmark project and it’s huge in scale. Maybe the government might want to be part of that first offshore wind project. I raised that earlier and hope that maybe the government can consider that.”
But the Department of Energy (DOE) has proven lukewarm to the proposal, saying projects of the kind depend on the availability of financing.
“There are other ways by which government can assist. In other words, where government can facilitate, we should be open in considering facilitating,” DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla said in a separate briefing last week.
POWER was launched last week to promote the development of the sector, help government in resolving issues and providing expertise and technical resources to accelerate the clean energy transition by leveraging on OSW power.
The founding members of POWER include ACEN Corp., The Blue Circle, Blue Float Energy, Citicore Renewable Energy Corp., Ignis ZA Global and Marubeni Asian Power Philippines Corp.
The Philippine offshore wind roadmap released by the DOE and the World Bank Group in April 2022 estimated the Philippines to benefit from the installation of 21 gigawatts (GW) of energy from offshore wind projects by 2040. That study said the Philippines has the potential to deliver power from offshore wind plants of 178 GW.
To date, the DOE has awarded 82 offshore wind projects with the potential to deliver 63.359 GW in projects located north Luzon, Metro Manila, Mindoro, Panay and the Guimaras Strait.
All these wind energy service contracts (WESCs), however, are in the pre-development stage where assessments on resources, site suitability and project viability are being undertaken.
Of the 82 awarded offshore wind contracts, 12 stand out as they were awarded to five foreign-owned companies following the lifting in November 2022 of foreign ownership restrictions in renewable energy project developments in the country.
