Wind power in Philippines: EDC gives up three wind farm contracts

Energy Development retained its other wind service contracts in Burgos and Pagudpud towns in Ilocos Norte and Camiguin province.

Energy Development, an affiliate of First Gen Corp. of the Lopez Group, is engaged in the exploration, development and optimization of geothermal fields, as well as the operation and maintenance of power plants with an aggregate capacity of 1,130 megawatts.

The company is aggressively developing the 86-megawatt Burgos wind power project, estimated to cost around $232 million.

Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug said many developers surrendered their wind farm contracts because the projects were not viable.

He said the department awarded 227 contracts and around 60 were sent show-cause letters.

“Many of them surrendered [their contracts] because it wasn’t viable. Under our service contract, two years [are allowed for a] feasibility study. The two-year period fell last year. Based on their wind mass data as an example, there was no wind or it was not strong enough,” Layug said.

He said there was a need to update the existing study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the US.

NREL conducted a study in 1999 showing over 10,000 square kilometers of windy land areas with a good-to-excellent wind resource potential in the country.

The department said using conservative assumptions of about 7 megawatt per sq. km., the windy land areas could support over 70,000 MW of potential installed capacity.

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