The Board of Investments (BOI) said Friday its One-Stop Action Center for Strategic Investments (OSAC-SI) granted a green lane certification to Copenhagen Infrastructure New Market Fund Philippines Corp. (CINMF PH) for its three offshore wind power projects in North Samar, Pangasinan, La Union, Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte provinces on Feb. 19, 2024.
Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo presented the green lane certificates of endorsement to CINMF PH executives during a brief awarding ceremony at the BOI main office in Makati City.
A pioneer in offshore wind projects, CINMF PH is the first 100-percent foreign-owned company to be awarded renewable energy service contracts in the Philippines. It is an affiliate of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), the world’s largest fund manager dedicated to renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind.
CINMF PH was awarded with three wind energy service contracts in the Philippines in March 2023. The offshore wind projects will have a combined capacity of up to 2,000 megawatts (MW) of power, with a variety of components including wind turbines, foundations, cables and substations.
The specific configuration will be defined through a rigorous procurement process, additional engineering and environmental evaluations required by both national and international legislation and norms.
Niels Holst, partner and co-head of the Growth Markets Fund lauded the Marcos administration’s vision for renewable energy, pointing out that CIP’s portfolio of projects in the Philippines presents an exciting prospect of accelerated deployment of offshore wind in the country.
“The Marcos government’s vision for renewables has been instrumental in attracting significant interest from a global leader in offshore wind like CIP, first with the removal of the foreign equity restrictions in November 2022, then the issuance of Executive Order 21 in April 2023 for a coordinated approach to offshore wind, and now the award of the Green Lane status to our projects, which we highly welcome,” Holst told BOI officials.
Przemek Lupa, associate partner and Asia Pacific lead for the Growth Markets Fund said significant work has been done by their teams to progress the three projects since the execution of the wind energy service contracts in March last year.
“Today is another significant milestone for CIP, and we strongly believe that the green lane status will materially contribute to putting up the first offshore wind projects into commercial operations within the Marcos administration. We look forward to further working closely with the BOI and DTI to ensure smooth project permitting and consenting,” he said.
Rodolfo expressed gratitude to the executives for investing in the Philippines. “Thank you for your interest and investment in the Philippines. We will increase our coordination with other government agencies. We’d like to bring in all of the agencies on one loop and explain the requirements,” he said.
He said OSAC-SI would actively monitor the progress made by agencies in processing permit and license applications and would submit comprehensive reports, accordingly.