CONSIDERING the huge potential in harnessing wind energy in the country, several companies have expressed interest and commitment to put up wind farms in the country, particularly in the Ilocos, Palawan and Mindoro areas.

“In view of the huge potential in wind power, we project around 200 megawatts [MW] of wind power generating capacity to be put up by 2015 and, hopefully, up to 400 MW by then,” Mario Marasigan, director for Energy Management and Utilization Bureau of the Department of Energy (DOE), told reporters at the sidelines of a familiarization tour in Northwind Power Development Corp.’s 25-MW wind farm in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte.

Among the many proponents, the energy official said UPC Asia, a local company, and its foreign partner are looking at putting up a 100-MW wind farm in Pagudpud.

Marasigan, however, said the site UPC targets to put up its wind farm overlaps with that of other wind-power project proponents.

As a rule of thumb, according to the energy official, a wind-power project could entail an investment of $2.5 million per megawatt.

He further noted that Energy Logic Philippines Inc. has also completed its wind mass survey for its proposed 40-MW to 60-MW project in the Burgos area in Ilocos Norte.

Marasigan also hinted that a Spanish company that was supposed to partner with the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (EDC) still targets to put up a 10-MW to 15-MW wind-power facility in Camiguin and Palawan.

He further revealed that a proponent also plans to put up a 10-MW to 15-MW wind farm in Aklan and that another is looking at also constructing a 20-MW wind form in Puerto Galera and Bulalakaw in Mindoro.

The USDOE-NREL study earlier showed that 47 provinces out of 73 in the Philippines have at least 500 megawatts in wind potential and another 25 provinces with at least 1,000 MW.

Another study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines also showed 1,038 wind sites in the country could generate about 7,404 MW of electricity, which identified 686 wind potential sites in 28 provinces in Luzon, or equivalent to 4,900 MW.

A total of 305 wind sites with a total potential of 2,168 MW can be found in the Visayas and 47 sites in Mindanao with a generating power of 336 MW.

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CONSIDERING the huge potential in harnessing wind energy in the country, several companies have expressed interest and commitment to put up wind farms in the country, particularly in the Ilocos, Palawan and Mindoro areas.

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