More firms drawn to wind, solar projects

Wind energy developers appear bullish on their Philippine prospects, as suggested by the oversubscription in investment pledges under the feed-in-tariff scheme, according to an official of the Department of Energy (DOE).

“There’s an oversubscription in wind and solar energy projects under FIT (feed-in-tariff). The installation cap for wind is 200 megawatts, and with 6 projects now issued COCs (certificate of commerciality), there’s now committed capacity of 389.5 megawatts,” DOE director for renewable energy Mario C. Marasigan said in a briefing.

Asked why there has been an oversubscription in wind energy projects, Marasigan said that developers are considering expanding on investments.

“If they just have one facility for deliveries—one jetty, one port for loading and unloading—it would be a lot cheaper to have several projects at a time rather than finishing one after the other,” Marasigan said.

He said the latest company to get a certificate of commerciality is First Maxpower International Corp., which aims to put up a $122-million, 50 megawatts wind facility in Pulupandan, Negros Occidental, this year.

The declaration of commerciality was approved on Sept. 17, according to the DOE. The document, a requirement before project construction, proves that a project is commercially feasible.

Earlier, FMIC president Francis A. Paderna said the project may be operational by the second half of 2015.

“The estimated cost is $122 million. Financial negotiation is ongoing,” Paderna said.

First Maxpower has secured an environmental compliance certificate and other clearances from local government agencies for the proposed project, he added.