RP can harness wind for energy

The Philippines has the potential to generate some 70,000 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity from wind power or seven times its present installed capacity, a study conducted by the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) said.

Through its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), it was learned that the Philippines has 10,000 kilometers of windy land area with good-to-excellent wind energy resource potential.

"Considering only these areas of good-to-excellent wind resource, there are 47 provinces in the Philippines with at least 500 MW of wind potential, and 25 provinces with at least 1,000 MW of wind potential," the study said.

However, it suggested further studies to determine the wind electric potential "considering factors such as the existing transmission grid and accessibility."

The study noted regional differences in the seasonal variability. "For example, the months with the highest wind resource are October through February in the northern Philippines, and November through March in much of the central and southern Philippines. The northeastern Mindanao coast and the western coast of Palawan have relatively high wind resources from June through September during the southwest monsoon."

The country’s wind resource is strongly dependent on latitude, elevation and proximity to the coastline. In general, the wind resource is best in the north and northeast, and lower south and southwest of the archipelago.

The areas with the highest potentials in the northern and southern portion of the country are Batanes, northern coastline of Ilocos Norte, coastal areas of Pangasinan, Zambales, Luban Islands near Mindoro, the southern coastline of Occidental and Oriental Mindoro, the northern coastal tip of Panay, including the Boracay area, the northern coastline of Masbate, northwest coastline of Negros, and the Guimaras Islands.

The study was undertaken with the assistance of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAG-ASA), the National Power Corp. (Napocor), the United States National Climate Data Center, and other US data.

The study of potential wind power for energy generation is part of the country’s thrust to development new and renewable energy (NRE) sources, to decrease the country’s dependence on expensive and imported fossil fuel while increasing the environmentally friendly and unlimited energy sources.

The Philippines has already increased its utilization of alternative energy sources such as geothermal, natural gas, coal and hydro power. However, it still has to import a huge volume of coal for its power generation sector amounting to several millions of pesos annually.

The Department of Energy said that it was easy to receive grants and technical assistance for NRE initiatives. The recent study of the country’s wind potentials was done through a grant from the US government.

Recently, a trade mission from the United Kingdom was in Manila to explore business opportunities in the NRE sector.