ADB approves offshore wind fund for Phl

The Asian Development Bank has approved a $400,000 fund for the Philippines to conduct studies on offshore wind ports as the government aims to reduce carbon emissions by 75 percent by 2030.

The ADB’s climate change fund will focus on providing technical assistance to key government agencies on building offshore wind ports which serve as the storage area for equipment and raw materials for wind power facilities in the sea.

The project will be carried out with the Department of Energy, Department of Transportation and Philippine Ports Authority.

Energy from coal

Currently, the country sources up to 60 percent of its energy from coal. The DoE, however, said it aims to expand the share of renewable energy to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

The DoE already approved 77 OSW service contracts as it targets to start building facilities with initial capacity of 20.5 gigawatts.

“However, the government has not paid sufficient attention to OSW port development planning which has become one of major concerns among potential investors,” the ADB said.

OSW priority sites

“Assessing preliminary feasibility of OSW port is also essential to identify OSW priority sites for earlier deployment, while factoring available wind resource, grid capacity and access, and proximity of power load demand centers,” it added.

According to the World Economic Forum, global OSW capacity will expand tenfold in this decade, with eight members of the European Union and China likely shelling out some of the projected $1 trillion total investment in OSW during the period.

The global institution says Kincardine, located off the coast of Scotland, is the world’s largest floating wind farm.