Press Release
February 25, 2011

TAP PPP's, INVESTMENTS TO ACHIEVE WIND ENERGY
POTENTIAL - ANGARA

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, Chair of the Congressional Commission on Science Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), said that the Philippines has yet to harness wind as a renewable energy resource, and tasked the commission to develop Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and investors to research the development of the industry.

Angara cited a report made by the Energy panel of COMSTE indicating that despite recent aggressive moves to develop and install large wind farms in the country, the potential for this Renewable Energy (RE) source is still untapped.

"By exploiting innovative RE Systems like wind energy, we can move towards achieving the long term goal of energy independence," said Angara, who also noted that RE produces roughly 40% of the country's total energy, but this is mostly geothermal, while wind, solar, and micro-hydro account for less than 1%.

According to the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB), the projected total local power demand for the Philippines in the next five years is within the range of 1,500 to 2,000 Mega Watts (MW).

An assessment of the Philippines wind power potential by the US based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) projects that the Philippines has over 10,000 square kilometers of areas that have good to excellent wind source potential. This means that the Philippines has 76,600 MW of potential capacity. These numbers only reflect capacity for large wind systems.

Angara said that wind power technology is a mature technology, and installed capacity for wind systems is growing worldwide at about 30% annually. With the analysis of NREL and availability of technology and suppliers, the Philippines can become a regional leader in wind energy production.

The Philippines has only one operational large scale wind farm in Bangui Bay, Ilocos, which generates 33MW. However, smaller stand alone systems have been deployed around the country. Smart Telecommunications Inc., has utilized wind energy in powering a 47 of their cellular sites in remote areas.

According to the COMSTE report, Japan has expressed interest in working with local partners to develop small wind energy systems by developing and localizing technology. The Japan based International Center for Environmental Technology (ICETT) has already carried out a pilot demonstration project for innovative small wind technology. If developed, small wind technology can up the country's wind power potential to 97,000MW.

According to the Dept. of energy (DoE), last October 2010, China has offered to conduct a wind assessment and provide the country with an updated wind map. The new wind study will use new technology to determine more accurately the wind potential of specific locations in the country.

Chinese companies have also approached COMSTE, agreeing in principal to develop research teams that can look into the development of solar and other similar technologies.

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