The Philippines' Department of Energy said on Thursday it had signed three contracts with a Danish fund manager for offshore wind energy development projects with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts.
There will be a 25-year operating period for the service contracts with Copenhagen Infrastructure New Markets Fund (CINMF), which is the first foreign firm allowed to have a 100% interest in Philippine offshore wind energy, the department said.
The Philippines has made investments in renewable energy exempt from its 40% limit on foreign ownership in the energy sector, as it seeks to phase out coal-fired power plants and transition to low-carbon fuels.
The three projects are expected to provide enough electricity to power a million households and offset about 2.9 million tones in CO2 emissions per year, the DOE said.
It did not provide a value for the projects, which would be located offshore of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur provinces, Northern Samar and Pangasinan and La Union.
The Philippines aims to increase the share of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and tidal in its energy mix to 35% by 2030 and to 50% by 2040, from 22% currently.
It has the potential to install 21 gigawatt of offshore wind power by 2040, equivalent to about a fifth of its electricity supply by then, according to a joint study by the DOE and the World Bank.
The DOE to date has awarded 57 offshore wind service contracts with a total potential capacity of about 42,000 MW.
(Reuters - Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Martin Petty)
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