PetroGreen, Danish firm tie up for offshore wind projects
By Myrna M. Velasco – November 7, 2022, 2:38 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Yuchengco-led PetroGreen Energy Corp. (PGEC) and Danish firm Copenhagen Energy have cemented investment partnership for the development of offshore wind projects in Luzon as well as Panay in the Visayas grid that will yield up to 4,000 megawatts of aggregate capacity.
In an announcement to the media, PGEC indicated that their joint venture will pave the way for the establishment of three separate special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for the offshore wind ventures that they will undertake, namely the Buhawind Energy Northern Luzon, Buhawind Energy Northern Mindoro, and Buhawind Energy East Panay.
In advancing their investment plan, Danish Ambassador to the Philippines Franz-Michael Skjold Mellbin primarily cited “Denmark’s strong belief in the potential of offshore wind in the Philippines and to our support for President Marcos Jr.’s high priority on renewable energy to increase power supply and to reduce carbon emissions in the country.”
Beyond collaboration with a Filipino firm-partner, the envoy highlighted that “Denmark is also exploring ways to cooperate with the Philippine government to remove barriers to commercial offshore wind development through assistance or institutional knowledge sharing in grid planning and reinforcements, environmental monitoring, and other related experiences.”
Mellbin emphasized “such collaboration can only strengthen the economic and people-to-people ties between Denmark and the Philippines.”
The development of offshore wind power facilities will take long lead times; and based on an assessment earlier laid down by the Yuchengco group, this may take 4-5 years or even longer to bring to commercial fruition.
In the landscape of renewable energy (RE) developments in the Philippines, offshore wind technology remains a ‘frontier’ territory; and sponsor-firms have yet to prove its financial viability as addition in the country’s power mix – owing it partly to high upfront costs that investors would need to cough up to advance their projects to construction phases.
Francisco G. Delfin Jr., vice president and chief operating officer of PGEC, noted that the signing of their tie-up agreement with the Danish partner had been ‘appreciated’ by Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla, as this manifests added capital injection of the Yuchengco group for RE projects.
He relayed the energy chief’s assertion that “offshore wind will be a significant pillar in the country’s transition to clean energy fuel adding that it will provide a climate-friendly power source as a replacement to conventional and aging power plants.”
Delfin also conveyed the belief of Lotilla that “this partnership – a combination of foreign capital and technology with local knowledge and experience – would help strengthen cooperation between the two countries by way of knowledge sharing in renewable energy development.”
