P329-B Danish RE project gets BoI tag
The multi-billion renewable energy projects of Copenhagen Infrastructure New Market Fund Philippines Corp., or CI NMF (Phl) Corp., have earned a Green Lane status from the Board of Investments, realizing the dream of the Marcos Jr. Administration to widen the reach of clean energy in the country.
CI NMF (Philippines) Corp. has three offshore wind power projects in North Samar in the Visayas; Pangasinan/La Union in the Northern portion of the country, and Camarines Sur/ Camarines Norte in the Bicol Region, amounting to P329 billion.
Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo presented the green lane certificates of Endorsement to CI NMF (PH) Corp. officials in a brief awarding ceremony at the BoI Main Office last 19 February 2024.
CI NMF (PH) Corp. is hailed as a pioneer in offshore wind projects, being the first 100 percent foreign-owned company to be awarded renewable energy service contracts in the Philippines.
The firm is an affiliate of Danish fund manager Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, the world’s largest fund manager dedicated to renewable energy investments, and a global leader in offshore wind.
In March last year, CI NMF (Phl) Corp. was awarded three Wind Energy Service Contracts.
Wind source pioneer
‘The Marcos government’s vision for renewables has been instrumental in attracting significant interest from a global leader in offshore wind like CIP.’
The offshore wind projects will have a combined capacity of up to 2,000 megawatts of power, with a variety of components including wind turbines, foundations, cables and substations.
The specific configuration will be defined through a rigorous procurement process, additional engineering, and environmental evaluations required by both national and international legislation and norms.
In the meeting with the BoI officials, Niels Holst, Partner and Co-Head of the Growth Markets Fund, lauded the Marcos administration’s vision for renewable energy, pointing out that CIP’s portfolio of projects in the Philippines presents an exciting prospect of accelerated deployment of offshore wind in the country.
“The Marcos government’s vision for renewables has been instrumental in attracting significant interest from a global leader in offshore wind like CIP, first with the removal of the foreign equity restrictions in November 2022, then the issuance of Executive Order 21 in April 2023 for a coordinated approach to offshore wind, and now the award of the Green Lane status to our projects, which we highly welcome,” he told the officials of the BoI.
Przemek Lupa, associate partner, and APAC lead for the Growth Markets Fund, for his part, said that significant work has been done by their teams to progress the three projects since the execution of the wind energy service contracts in March last year.
“Today is another significant milestone for CIP and we strongly believe that the Green Lane status will materially contribute to putting up the first offshore wind projects into commercial operations within the Marcos administration. We look forward to further working closely with the BOI and DTI to ensure smooth project permitting and consenting,” he said.