ACEN, Maraj partner for ‘unicorn’ wind project
There’s a new wind corridor in Real, Quezon and it bodes well for the country’s sustainability and renewable energy (RE) goals.
Maraj Energy and Development Corp. (Maraj Energy), a Filipino-owned boutique RE firm, has collaborated with the Ayala Group’s energy platform ACEN to develop the 500-megawatt (MW) Real Wind Energy Inc. (RWEI) project in Real, Quezon.
It is touted as the largest project of its kind in the Philippines.
Maraj Energy officials said the partnership with ACEN would create the largest onshore wind power project in the country, to be developed in three phases.
“We are excited about this entry of one of the country’s most reputable large-scale renewable energy companies into our project,” Maraj Energy president and CEO Mark Alburo told The STAR in a recent interview.
“For us, this is a confirmation of the soundness of the vision for renewable energy development our company cast less than a decade ago,” he added.
“Maraj Energy welcomed ACEN as a minority partner in the project after the former’s Bangkok-based partner sold its 40 percent-stake in RWEI, the project’s special purpose vehicle, to ACEN.
“To date, RWEI is touted as the largest onshore wind energy power project in the country and one of the largest in Southeast Asia. Some industry experts have also called it a ‘unicorn’ project due to its strategic location, wind speed and capacity factor and accessibility,” the company said.
“ACEN’s RWEI buy-in ties the wind project to its own Laguna and Quezon wind projects, with a combined capacity of at least 835 MW of electricity.
New wind power corridor
Once built, Alburo said, the combined wind farm sites promise to be Southeast Asia’s largest contiguous wind energy corridor.
In effect, the RWEI project positions the municipality of Real in Quezon as the country’s RE hub, establishing a new wind energy corridor in the area and neighboring towns.
This is a step in the right direction for the Philippines, which is moving toward sustainability and RE.
Aside from RWEI and ACEN, at least three other companies have been awarded service contracts for wind farms in the area, according to Alburo.
In all, this new wind corridor has a potential to generate at least 1,200 MW of electricity.
But it is the ACEN-RWEI partnership that will contribute the most to the projected electricity output, Alburo also said.
The new wind corridor, indeed, will help speed up the Philippine’s drive toward cleaner energy, which targets an RE power generation mix of 35 percent by 2030 and an aspirational target of 50 percent by 2040.
Maraj Energy, which owns 60 percent of RWEI’s shares, was started in 2016 by a group of young professionals knowledgeable in the green energy market in the Philippines.
Pipeline of RE projects
Moving forward, Alburo said RWEI plans to put up the giant wind complex in three phases, to be located in around 11,000 hectares covering two service contract areas in the town of Real. This would be developed over a period of five years.
The project’s final footprint will be much smaller than the service contract areas: only around 200 hectares for some 100 wind turbines, Maraj Energy said.
“In fact, the RWEI project just comes on the heels of a 250-MW solar development in another part of Luzon that
ins wdorking Maraj on, also with an established large-scale developer,“added Romel Bagares, Maraj Energy’s legal counsel.
Maraj Energy’s unique group of highly experienced experts has developed a workable formula for the early-on stage development of a 5.6 GW pipeline of RE projects, including offshore wind, floating solar and ground-mounted solar farms.
Counting the RWEI venture, Maraj Energy now has a total of nearly 1.5 GW of solar and wind projects nearing commerciality.
In 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, the Singapore-based Southeast Asia Clean Energy Facility (Seacef) extended a $1-million ‘mezzanine” credit line to the project. An accelerator fund, Seacef pools capital from such investors as the Sall Family Foundation, High Tide Foundation, Seachange Foundation, David & Lucille Packard Foundation, Child Investment Fund European Climate Foundation and Microsoft for startup green projects in the region.
The Seacef’s climate fund infusion helped establish the project’s viability.
“Our collaboration with ACEN marks a major milestone in driving forward the Philippines’ green energy transition. The partnership offers the RE market a strong and remarkable solution needed in the successful navigation of local conditions,” Alburo said.