The administration’s thrust toward the development of green power—particularly of wind, solar and other variable renewable energy (VRE) sources—would be a new magnet for investments, Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said on Saturday.
Villafuerte issued the statement in the wake of the recent inauguration of the Manila office of the Danish firm Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP), which has committed to invest an initial $30 million or about P1.7 billion for the preparation and pre-development activities for the first of its four offshore and onshore wind power projects in the Philippines.
He said the first of COP’s four projects in the Philippines is the $3-billion, 1,000 megawatt (MW) offshore wind (OSW) farm that the Danish investor is putting up on San Miguel Bay in his home province of Camarines Sur.
Once up and running hopefully before President Marcos leaves office in 2028, Villafuerte said this OSW farm on San Miguel Bay will become the first and biggest wind power project in the country and that will employ an estimated 2,500 people.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has pointed to the “strong interest” of private sector investors, especially from countries considered as the global leaders in offshore wind (OSW) technology such as Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom (UK). The DOE has thus far awarded 92 OSW service contracts to 38 RE developers with a potential capacity of 66 GW combined.
