Alternergy Holdings Corp. and its venture partner Shell Overseas Investment B.V. have completed studies on the feasibility of four offshore wind energy service contracts (WESCs) obtained from the Department of Energy.
The partners on Wednesday told the Philippine Stock Exchange that three of the four service contracts were assessed as feasible sites for offshore wind exploration and development.
“Based on these studies, the three sites are deemed feasible for offshore wind development exploration,” said Gerry Magbanua, Alternergy president.
According to the partners, the feasible sites are over the Tablas Strait separating Oriental Mindoro and Antique and that the Calavite Passage site was found to have several technical issues that could make its development unfeasible “given the available technical innovations and market conditions.”
“The WESC covering the Calavite Passage located offshore and onshore Occidental Mindoro will be returned to the DOE pursuant to our obligations under the WESC while the development of the three Tablas Strait WESCs will be further explored,” Magbanua said.
Alternergy looks to deliver up to 350 megawatts of power projects in the next three to five years broken down as 33 MW of solar, 220 MW of onshore wind and 50 MW in run-of-river hydro projects.
The Philippine offshore wind roadmap released in April 2022 by the Department of Energy and the World Bank Group estimated the potential installation of 21 gigawatts (GW) from high-growth offshore wind power by 2040.
The study said the total potential from offshore wind is around 178 GW.
To date, the DOE has awarded 82 offshore wind projects with the potential to generate 63.359 GW. These are projects located north of Luzon, west of Metro Manila, north and south of Mindoro, Panay and Guimaras Strait.
All are in the pre-development stage where assessments on resources, site suitability and project viability are being undertaken.
Of the 82 offshore wind service contracts, 12 were awarded to five foreign-owned companies following the lifting of foreign ownership restrictions in the renewable energy space in November 2022.
