Aboitiz Power Corp. is eyeing to pursue offshore wind projects with Japanese power generation firm JERA Co. Inc.
“Certainly, offshore wind is in our eyesights with certain areas for possible development in the Philippines but we’re also not just limiting ourselves with JERA as a partner in this field.
We have a number of developers also asking or looking at Aboitiz to co-develop. But it does actually open up more opportunities for Aboitiz Power to explore offshore wind with JERA especially in countries where they are actually operating at the moment,” said Emmanuel Rubio, Aboitiz Power’s president and chief executive officer, in an online briefing yesterday.
Five offshore wind energy service contracts have so far been awarded, two of which are located in the Guimaras Strait in Western Visayas while the three are in Aparri Bay in Cagayan, Frontera Bay in Cavite and San Miguel Bay in Bicol with a combined potential capacity of 5,000 megawatts (MW).
None of them is in operation.
The World Bank Group said initial estimates indicate the Philippines has over 17,000 MW of offshore wind potential. As of end-2020, the Philippines’ total installed capacity from wind power projects reached 427 MW equivalent to 1.7 percent of the entire mix.
