TRANS-ASIA RENEWABLE ENERGY Corp. (Tarec) is poised to become the country?s biggest wind energy resource producer, as it plans to initially invest P108 million in 10 power projects which will have a combined capacity of 227 megawatts.
Last week, the Department of Energy awarded Tarec 10 wind power contracts?the biggest number of service contracts ever granted to a single power generation firm in the country.
Tarec is a wholly owned subsidiary of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. (Trans-Asia), which is the energy arm of Philippine Investment Management Inc. (Phinma).
?The new wind contracts make evident our aggressiveness in being the pioneer and leader in renewable energy resources, particularly in wind resource development,? said company president and CEO Francisco Viray.
?We are glad the DOE saw the merits of our proposals and awarded the contracts to us,? Viray noted.
He said the service contracts had entailed more than a year of planning and preparations.
?After DOE?s approval and awarding of the contracts for all its proposed wind sites, Tarec will then have to finish its proposed work program within a span of three years,? Viray said.
The 227 MW aggregate wind capacity from the 10 contracts accounted for more than half of the company?s target of producing as much as 400 MW of wind power in different locations, mostly in the Visayas and Luzon.
He also said that the company?s San Lorenzo wind project in Guimaras was expected to be operational in three years. It will have a capacity of 54 MW, which will be put in place in phases, with the first 8 MW to be implemented in 2012.
Four more wind power assessment studies are being conducted by Tarec in Cagayan Valley and Guimaras.
Except for its initial 8-MW Guimaras wind power project, Viray said Tarec was in discussions with interested local and foreign partners to realize its 400-MW wind power target. All these projects, he said, would cost as much as $1 billion.
A company needed to invest some $2.5 million to produce a megawatt of wind power.
