WITH THE PROVINCE on the verge of launching four wind projects in their predevelopment phase, provincial leaders and energy transition advocates have identified grid infrastructure as a major hurdle to the full-scale development of renewable energy (RE) initiatives in Northern Samar.
According to provincial planning and development office head Jay Keenson Acebuche, despite promising local readiness, additional grid capacity must be installed to support new energy generation infrastructures.
Prior to this, Acebuche disclosed at the media briefing organized by the Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy (CASE) for Southeast Asia Project that the province is preparing to “support investments by simplifying permitting processes and establishing mechanisms to better coordinate with municipalities.”
FAVORABLE WIND CONDITIONS
CASE is a regional project implemented in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam to drive the Southeast Asian power sector toward decarbonization and increased climate mitigation ambition. In the Philippines, it is jointly implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in the Philippines with the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities as the expert organization and the DoE as the political partner.
As of April the current year, the Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded five service contracts to Northern Samar, which has been gaining attention as a potential hub for wind project development as developers are eyeing the region due to its favorable wind conditions.
“The critical part here is the grid and transmission. No matter how favorable the business climate is for RE, how ready the civil society organizations are and how much money the investors have, it will all boil down to transmission,” Acebuche spelled out.
OFFSHORE WIND POTENTIAL
In support, Global Wind Energy Council Philippines country manager Ann Margret Francisco highlighted the offshore wind (OSW) potential of the Philippines.
“The World Bank (WB)’s Philippines Offshore Wind road map estimates the country’s OSW capacity at 178 gigawatts (GW) and identified Pacific-facing regions like Northern Samar and Bicol as key sites for early development,” Francisco cited.
“As you put more RE in the system, you have to ensure that your transmission is able to take in much capacity,” she added.
Francisco likewise noted that this strategy aligns with the DoE’s recent fifth round of their Green Energy Auction Program, offering an installation target of 3.3 GW of offshore wind capacity. This is an addition to the 2.39 GW of onshore wind capacity offered in the auction’s previous fourth round.
MULTI-ACTOR COLLABORATION
Meanwhile, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities Partnerships and Advocacy advisor Francis Dela Cruz mentioned the need for multi-actor collaboration involving local governments, civil society organizations, the private sector and the media.
“Conversations on energy can be very complex, but we can find ways to make information more accessible and easy to understand,” Dela Cruz pointed out.