Nabas wind farm secures ERC approval

With its prescribed level of project completion, the 36-megawatt Nabas wind farm of PetroWind Energy, Inc. (PWEI) has secured the go-signal of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for its certificate of compliance.

Conspicuously missing in that COC link, however, is the purported feed-intariff (FIT) availment which could have been part of the project incentives.

The earlier wind projects were bestowed with FIT-COCs and such signaled that they were qualified for FIT availments.

But since the FIT for wind technology has already been ‘oversubscribed’, the next ones will have to wait for the second wave of incentives that must be approved by the industry regulator.

PWEI noted that it injected 4.5billion capital outlay in the facility’s development. It now stands as the “single biggest investment in Aklan province.”

The 36MW capacity was just supposedly the first phase as PWEI packaged up to 50MW wind farm installation. The company has re-channeled the funding allotment for the second phase though to a solar farm development.

PWEI is a joint venture firm among Singapore-headquartered CapAsiaAsean Wind Holdings Cooperatief U.A., EEI Power Corporation and PetroGreen Energy Corporation.

The project sponsor-firm has explained that “the COC approval means that PWEI has complied with all the technical, equipment, financial, organizational and manpower requirements to operate the wind farm.”

It noted further that such also manifests ERC’s concurrence to the June 10, 2015 commercial operations date (COD) for the facility as proposed by the Department of Energy.

PWEI, at this point, has qualified that “this regular COC will be amended by a COC-FIT which will be issued later once the ERC decides on the FIT rate for the second batch of wind farms.”

In the expanded FIT coverage now pending for ERC approval, the expected developments that could avail of additional incentives would include the Nabas, Pililla and San Lorenzo (Guimaras) wind projects. (MMV)