PetroEnergy abandons wind power project

MANILA, Philippines - PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (PERC) has decided to abandon its wind energy project in Pangasinan after tests showed the area is not commercially feasible for wind power.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PERC said it has informed the Department of Energy (DOE) of the decision and on Oct. 28 approved the “voluntary relinquishment of PERC’s wind energy service contract covering Sual, Pangasinan.”

PERC head of corporate and legal affairs Arlan Profeta said the company did not find sufficient grounds to push through with the project.

“The decision to relinquish the area was reached after PERC’s technical studies,” he said.

He said the studies “included two years of wind data gathering activities and resource assessment.”

“The (study) indicated that the Sual area’s wind resource is insufficient to support commercial operations,” he added.

The company did not disclose how much money it had poured for the project. But earlier, it said it had spent bulk of its $1.518-million general and administrative funds in 2010 for the payments of taxes and licenses of PetroGreen Energy Corp., the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary and Maibarara Geothermal (a joint venture corporation, 65 percent owned by PetroGreen) and various expenses for the due diligence of wind and geothermal projects.

Despite the abandonment of the wind power project, the publicly-listed firm said it would pursue the 40-megawatt Maibarara geothermal power project in Calamba, Laguna and Sto. Tomas, Batangas.

PERC intends to commission the first 20-MW integrated steamfield and power plant by late 2013.