THE First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPH) on Monday said it will aggressively double its wind-power capacity in the next three years.
Francis Giles B. Puno, the company’s president and COO, said at the moment, the company has a 150-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. Doubling that could result in another 150-MW capacity.
“One megawatt costs between $2.5 million and $3 million, so we are going to spend about $450 million for doubling our capacity. That was the same amount we spent for our existing 150- MW wind-power facility,” Puno told reporters.
He said the expansion project will immediately start the Energy Development Corp.’s (EDC) application for feed-in tariff (FiT) once it is approved by the government. EDC is FPH’s unit.
FiT is a set of incentives granted to renewable-energy investors in the country as a move to encourage the use of sustainable power.
Puno said the move to expand its renewable-energy footprint in the country is part of its objective to encourage other energy-related firms to do away with coal-fired power plants, which have a high-carbon emission.
“For the record, FPH and its subsidiaries will not build, develop, or invest in any coal-fired power plant. I am certain that, without having to look too far, this country already has energy alternatives that do not mortgage the future of our children and the future of our planet,” Federico Lopez, the company’s chairman and CEO, said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting.
“In the coming years, as we scale up our operations, our only choice is to mindfully work together toward the common good. This is primarily the reason why we have focused our power-generation investments in providing clean and affordable electricity to the Filipino consumers. It is the reason we have prioritized investments in low-carbon sources of electricity coming from natural gas, hydro and geothermal. It is the reason why we have expanded the portfolio to include wind and solar,” he said.