Korea’s Odin to build off-grid wind farms

MANILA, Philippines - Korean firm Odin Energy Inc. will put up its first wind tower in the Philippines before the end of the year after the National Power Corp. (Napocor) agreed to bring in the facilities to off-grid areas.

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) announced yesterday the venture as Napocor and Odin Energy signed the memorandum of agreement for a pilot project.

Under the agreement Odin Energy will build wind generation towers in areas covered by Napocor’s Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) or far-flung areas not connected to the grid.

The wind generation tower is a roof-level structural system for power generation and distribution to be installed atop buildings 10 floors or higher.

Odin Energy said that the technology is expected to be a major boost to the government’s efforts to adopt renewable energy technologies.

The Korean self-generating technology is considered a pioneer wind showcase project which could boost distributed generation for buildings.

Napocor president Ma. Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita said the first tower, with an estimated cost of $2 million, is scheduled to commence construction in May and is expected to be ready by November.

She said there is no specific area yet but options are Napocor’s SPUG areas in Masbate, Quezon and Mindoro.

“Korea’s wind turbine tower can supply electricity at the ideal rate of P1.15 per kilowatt-hour (kwh), which we certainly find very promising,” Sta. Rita noted.

Odin Energy said the wind turbine towers are four times more efficient than vertical axis-type and two times more than propeller-type in terms of generating capacity.

The pilot project will be at no cost to Napocor except for the site and the documentary requirements, said Kotra.

Furthermore, the agency said Korea’s wind generation tower is suitable for communities in far-flung areas because it does not require the large-scale construction of a transmission network.

“The lower floor of the tower is suitable to sue as barangay health center, school, library, or community center for less privileged ones. Odin’s wind generation tower not only supplies electricity but also helps improve the quality of life in remote areas,” Odin Energy president Yang Mi Baek said.

Napocor provides missionary power to some 300 off-grid areas, covering 207 towns across 36 provinces. For 2015, the company is preparing to electrify some 700,000 more households in the country.