Clean Energy: The largest offshore wind farm in the Philippines will be built in CamSur

Author: Billy Begas

Camarines Sur is likely to become a national wind energy generation center after the government approved the establishment of 16 facilities in the province, according to National Unity Party chairman and MP LRay Villafuerte.

Villafuerte noted that one of the 16 projects, a £163 billion Danish-funded facility, is set to become the country’s first and largest 1-gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm (OSW).

“This pioneering wind farm, which will be built by Danish infrastructure investment company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) in San Miguel Bay, along with 15 other offshore wind (OSW) projects, will help the Marcos administration accelerate the planned transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources energy to dramatically reduce the Philippines’ carbon footprint,” Villafuerte said.

“When the CIP-funded clean energy project at CamSur Bay, costing as much as P162.9 billion, is built, hopefully by 2028, it will become the first and largest OSW farm in the Philippines,” he added.

Solon said the 16 offshore wind projects in Camarines Sur “will become the main sources of VRE (variable renewable energy) in the Philippines, supporting the Marcos administration’s decarbonization goal of significantly increasing the share of indigenous sources such as wind and solar energy in our country. country’s energy mix.”

OSW projects have a total power potential of 7,668 megawatts (MW), the legislator reported.

In addition to helping the government achieve its goal of generating 35% of national electricity demand from renewable sources by 2030, Villafuerte said the CamSur wind farms will further boost economic activity and tourism in the province and create several thousand jobs.

“These green or clean energy projects will also boost CamSur’s tourism activities as these potential wind farms are expected to attract tourists to green project sites,” he added.

Villafuerte said Copenhagen-based CIP is building a wind farm in San Miguel Bay through its local subsidiary, Copenhagen Infrastructure New Markets Fund Corp. (CINMF), which secured various wind energy services contracts with the Department of Energy in March 2023.

The Board of Investments (BOI) has also awarded Green Lane Certificates of Support for CINMF projects to expedite the processing of permits, he said.