Batangas offshore wind port eyed

As part of its drive to become a strategic power industry player, state-run Philippine National Oil Company or PNOC targets to convert its 19-hectare Batangas port into an Offshore Wind or OSW Power Integration Port.

At a recent budget hearing of the Senate sub-finance committee last week, PNOC president Oliver Butalid said the company is currently looking for a potential partner from the private sector to complete the proposed venture.

"We are exploring going into a joint venture with a port developer, and we are discussing now with the Public-Private Partnership Center. This is going to be a dedicated integration port for OSW. I think it is responding to the need rather than perceived to be changing direction," Butalid said.

He noted that PNOC has also tapped the University of the Philippines National Engineering Center to "help us because the decision not to award the contract for the commercial port expansion and shift to an offshore integration port was only last month."

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalia, vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, said that PNOC should ensure that the project would be feasible to justify using taxpayers' money for the undertaking.

"I respect your corporate decision, but then I will be looking at what you have achieved after one year (because I )am accountable to our constituents on the money that is being spent on all these projects," the senator said.

PNOC's proposed corporate budget for 2024 stands at P1.96 billion, 86 percent higher than this year's allocation, and 60 percent of which will be earmarked for the port project.

Last year, PNOC remitted close to P1.7 billion pesos in dividends and about P1.2 billion in taxes to the government. Since 2010, the company has remitted a total of P21.12 billion to the national coffers.

For PNOC, significantly investing in the Batangas facility will bankroll its conversion into becoming a dedicated OSW integration port from being just a general commercial port.

The Department of Energy or DoE has been pushing for the development of OSW to ramp up local indigenous supply amid growing demand.

As such, it vowed to enhance the policies on the development of offshore wind, taking into account the streamlining and stricter timeframe outlined in the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop law on the processing and issuance of licenses and permits by the concerned national and local government entities.

The Philippines OSW Roadmap launched last year showcases the country's potential OSW resources estimated at 178 GW.

As of 22 June, the DOE has awarded 66 OSW Contracts with a total potential capacity of 53.85 gigawatts — enough to supply the country's future electricity demand.