French firm Sabella SAS has cemented
a deal with Filipino partner H&WB Asia Pacific (Pte. Ltd.) Corporation on
their joint venture for the development of a 5.0-megawatt tidal power project.
The partner-firms are envisioning to
develop the first ocean tidal energy conversion (OTEC) project in the ASEAN
region via their chosen site in the Philippines.
Based on the concession contract
held by Filipino firm H&WB, the targeted project area straddles the San
Bernardino Strait in Sorsogon and Capul-Dalupiri in Leyte. The memorandum of
agreement for this project was sealed last week by Sabella chairman and president
Jean-Francois Daviau; and H&WB president and chief executive officer
Antonio A. Ver.
Their planned venture though is not
actually the first to be proposed for an OTEC project in the Philippines.
In fact, when the feed-in-tariff
(FIT) for ocean tidal energy was being deliberated at the level of the National
Renewable Energy Board (NREB), it was the proposal of a British-led firm that
was used as reference. In the end though, the Energy Regulatory Commission
(ERC) had deferred decision on the FIT for OTEC as it was not held viable yet
at that time.
Meanwhile, for the Sabella-H&WB
project, it was emphasized that they will commence with the proposed 5.0MW as
“a demonstration plant” that will then supply generated electricity to the two
Sorsogon electric cooperatives.
No comments:
Post a Comment