MANILA, Philippines — Vestas of Denmark, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, is working on 1,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power projects in the Philippines which await firmer policies for the development of the technology from government.
The company is currently working with a dozen of customers very keen to invest in over 1,000 MW of wind farms in the country, Vestas Asia Pacific president Clive Turton said.
“We are working on dozens of projects here. We’re looking at wind resource, how to connect to the grid, land in preparation for future development. Even while the uncertainty remains as to the regulatory environment, we have a lot of customers who are working behind the scenes waiting to get ready with research going on, land acquisition,” he said.
However, these investors are waiting for clear cut policies from government before pushing through with their investments.
“If government gave clear policy structure, there will be a boom in this country… All they need to do is think of a clear structure and investment will follow. There is a large number of investors waiting with their check books to invest in green energy revolution in the Philippines,” Turton said.
Vestas earlier said the Philippines has the potential to become a leader in the Southeast Asian region as long as clear cut policies on developing wind sector from government are in place.
This is because the country has the strongest wind resource in the region, Turton said.
“The Philippines can be a leader in the ASEAN industry and bringing cheap power to people if it wanted to… There’s a great opportunity and if there’s one message we’d like to say is that the Philippines is uniquely positioned, has a great opportunity to exploit wind resources,” he said.
Last June, Vestas issued its position saying the development of renewable energy, particularly wind and solar, in the Philippines is nearly at a standstill in the near-term due to the current policy vacuum, which follows the full allocation of the first two rounds of feed-in tariff (FIT).
So far, 393.9 MW had been installed in the country under the FIT system.