OFFSHORE WIND FARMS. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (center, right panel) meets with the officials of wpd GmbH, a German company specializing in the development of wind and solar projects, on the sidelines of his working visit to Berlin, Germany on Tuesday (March 12, 2024). During the meeting, the German firm told Marcos of its plan to invest PHP392.4 billion for the establishment of offshore wind farms in the Philippines. (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Communications Office)
MANILA – Leading German wind and solar farms developer wpd GmbH has expressed interest in investing around PHP392.4 billion for the renewable energy sector in the Philippines, Malacañang said Wednesday.
The investment commitment was made during President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s meeting with wpd GmbH officials led by Björn Nullmeyer, the company’s chief finance officer, in Berlin, Germany on Tuesday, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cheloy Garafil said in a statement issued Wednesday night.
“The wpd GmbH plans to invest PHP392.4 billion in the Philippines to set up offshore wind farms in Cavite, Negros Occidental, and Guimaras, the biggest undertaking registered with the Board of Investments (BOI) in February last year,” Garafil said.
“The President met the wpd GmbH officials in Berlin to discuss status updates on the BOI-registered OSW (offshore wind) projects Cavite and Negros (1 & 2) Projects with a combined capacity of 3,260 MW (megawatts) valued at PHP400 billion,” she added.
Garafil said wpd GmbH officials also updated Marcos on the new solar, onshore, and PHP137 billion worth of offshore wind projects with a combined rated capacity of 1,662 MW in Aklan, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Iloilo, Bulacan, Mindoro, and Antique.
During the meeting, Marcos expressed optimism that the German firm would bring modern technology to the Philippines with its plans to set up offshore wind farms in the country.
“Thank you for coming in and to continue having an interest in the Philippines. I think that it is a very fertile investment especially for your industry, and business. And we are of course, like everybody else, working very hard to move the share of energy production and fossil fuels to renewable and wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear,” Marcos said, as quoted by the PCO.
“So, I hope we can avail [of] these new technologies now because all our wind farms now are land-based, we haven’t done anything offshore. So, we have much to learn from organizations like yours on how to handle it. What would be the capital requirements? What would be technical requirements?” he added.
Marcos said investments in the energy sector are important because of the administration’s industrialization thrust, with sufficient supply of energy becoming a critical part of its plans in the future.
Earlier, Marcos set up the commercially-operated wind farm in his hometown in Ilocos Norte, the first in Southeast Asia, when he was governor of the province.
Marcos said while the Philippines already has a good number of wind farms, it needs more expertise to determine the potential and suitable areas for new ones.
He also hoped that the Philippines could take advantage of the new technologies in wind power.
The wpd GmbH develops and operates onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Europe, Asia, and the American continent.
Headquartered in Bremen, Germany, wpd GmbH is actively engaged in 29 countries worldwide.
To date, the German wind and solar developer is in the process of establishing five onshore projects in various regions of the country, estimated to have an investment value of PHP56 million. These projects are projected to be completed between 2027 and 2030. (PNA)
