RP gets P28-M ADB-Japan loan for wind-farm studies

Business Mirror Written by Cai U. Ordinario / Reporter

MONDAY, 04 OCTOBER 2010 12:46

THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan is extending a $630,00 (P27.644 million) grant to the Philippines for the conduct of feasibility studies for three potential wind-farm projects in Luzon. The grant will be taken from the Asian Clean Energy Fund under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility funded by Japan and administered by the ADB. Tapping wind energy will reduce the country’s reliance on coal and oil-fired power, the ADB said. The money will be spent for the preparatory work, such as wind assessments, annual energy production estimates, assessment of environmental impacts and social acceptability, assessment of wind energy related issues, and an evaluation of transmission connection issues. “Energy plays a vital role in economic growth and poverty reduction and the ADB is playing a prominent role in helping countries like the Philippines, which are heavily reliant on imported coal and oil, to tap renewable-power sources to achieve energy security and to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions that contribute to climate change,” said Jose Yamagata, ADB private-sector operations department deputy director general, said in a statement. The ADB said the Department of Energy has granted rights to the renewable-power company, Alternergy Philippine Holdings Corp. (Alternergy) to develop the wind-power facilities in several locations. If the feasibility studies show that the plants are technically and financially viable, the ADB said Alternergy will build three wind farms with a combined capacity of up to 150 megawatts. “We welcome the technical assistance from ADB which will allow Alternergy to assess additional prospective wind sites in Luzon,” Knud Hedeager, Alternergy executive vice president, said. The ADB said the country’s electricity is still generated from imported coal and oil, leaving it exposed to price volatility and energy security concerns. Reliance on fossil fuels has also seen the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions rise, the bank said. In 2008 the government approved a new energy road map in which it set a target of doubling the installed generating capacity from renewable energy to 5,300 megawatts by 2030. However, developing renewable energy, such as wind, has been relatively slow because of the high cost of feasibility assessments and of developing and constructing plants. To date, the Philippines has only one wind power facility—the Northwind Bangui Bay Power Plant in Northern Luzon. Nevertheless, the potential for harnessing wind remains high as the Philippines, with its more than 7,100 islands, is situated on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific monsoonal belt. The Asian Clean Energy Fund is one of three under the Clean Energy Financing Partnership Facility that was established in 2007 to help improve energy security in the ADB’s developing member-countries, and to decrease the rate of climate change.