RE firms form group to boost OSW industry

By Alena Mae S. Flores – December 13, 2023, 9:05 pm
from manilastandard.net

Local and foreign renewable energy (RE) developers formed a new association to promote and ensure the success of the offshore wind (OSW) industry.

The companies launched Pilipinas Offshore Wind Energy Resource Inc. (POWER) as a Philippines-based OSW industry organization on Wednesday at the Philippine National Oil Corp. (PNOC) Executive Lounge at the Energy Center in Taguig City.

The association is composed of ACEN Corp., The Blue Circle (TBC), BlueFloat Energy, Citicore Renewable Energy Corp., Ignis ZA Global and Marubeni Asian Power Philippines Corp.

POWER’s members account for 15,000 to 20,000 MW out of the 63,359 MW OSW contracts issued by the Department of Energy (DOE).

The DOE awarded a total of 82 OSW projects located north of Luzon, west of Metro Manila, north and south of Mindoro, Panay and Guimaras Strait.

All these are in the pre-development stage, where assessments on resources, site suitability and project viability are being undertaken.

Around 12 wind energy service contracts were awarded to five 100-percent foreign-owned companies, following the lifting of foreign ownership restrictions for all renewable energy project developments in November 2022.

“The primary aim is to help each other, collaborate. It’s a group of developers with wind energy service contracts. These are developers that are supposed to design, develop, build, operate, and maintain. So, we have our own common concerns, our common issues, and of course common interest,” POWER president and BlueFloat Energy Philippines country manager Raymund Pascua said.

“We wanna make sure that the govt is synchronized to the needs of the industry,” he said.