CATARMAN, Northern Samar — Committed to its local climate change action plan (LCCAP) to adapt and mitigate the impacts of global warming, Northern Samar is looking towards the expansion of renewable energy sources that would help respond to dwindling energy supplies from the use of fossil fuels.
In encouraging developments, Gemini Wind Energy Corporation (GWEC), which is the local unit of Singapore-based Vena Energy, announced that it is investing P20.2 billion in a 304-megawatt (MW) wind farm that is slated to start operations late next year.
Targeted to help expand the country’s renewable energy capacity, the Gemini Wind Power Project will span 777 hectares across 15 towns of the province and according to the company, it has already filed the necessary requirements with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to ensure its success.
Based on the project’s design, the wind farm will require 38 wind turbine generators, each with a rated capacity of 9 MW.
GWEC said the proposed wind farm “offers long-term solutions to the perennial shortfall in electric power supply to the Philippine economy and fully supports the objectives of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008.”
In comparison with other renewable energy technologies, the company said a wind farm was the “most commercially feasible” option to optimize the province’s geography and available resources, while leaving a minimal environmental impact compared with conventional coal and diesel facilities.
The project was among the winning bids under the government’s green energy auction in 2023. It was also certified as an energy project of national significance by the Department of Energy and identified as a strategic investment by the Board of Investments.
Vena Energy is one of Asia’s largest renewable energy independent power producers. In the Philippines, it operates six power plants with a combined capacity of 330.80 MW across Negros Occidental, Rizal, Leyte, Ilocos Norte, and Bukidnon.
In August, Vena Energy said it had secured 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of additional offtake contracts and construction capacity in the Asia-Pacific since January, bringing its total portfolio to 9.7 GW.