Puerto Galera wind energy project gets gov’t nod

CALAPAN CITY , Philippines   â€“ The Aquino administration has just awarded its first wind energy service contract to an investor that will build a 48-megawatt wind energy power system in the resort town of Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro. 

The P6-billion project of Philippine Hybrid Energy Systems Inc. (PHESI) was issued Wind Energy Service Contract No. 2011-03-045 last Sept. 12, according to a news bulletin posted online by the Department of Energy (DOE).

The PHESI’s certificate of commerciality noted that this is the “first granted to a wind project in the off-grid area” in the country. 

The project “will complement the predominantly diesel power supply in Oriental Mindoro, which is seeing exponential economic growth,” PHESI president Nicky Villaseñor told newsmen here. 

The PHESI is also the first company to be granted a certificate of commerciality for a project in a missionary area “not covered by the feed-in tariff (FIT).” 

This means the project will be unlike most renewable projects that are queuing for government subsidy via the FIT mechanism of the national government.

Energy generated by the wind energy project will be sold directly to the Oriental Mindoro Electric Cooperative Inc., the sole electric cooperative in the province.

The certificate covers the first phase of the renewable energy project in Puerto Galera. Based on the project brief, each component of the three-phased energy project is worth P2 billion and is capable of generating 16 MW each.

The project had its groundbreaking in September last year.

The first phase, estimated to take 18 months, will be finished in early 2015 or 10 months ahead of the previous December 2015 target.

The PHESI is a company of CMC Asia Inc. in partnership with Berkeley Energy. CMC has been operating renewable energy projects since 1979.