Europe-PH News

MANILA, Philippines — State-run British International Investment (BII) is actively exploring offshore wind opportunities in the Philippines, potentially injecting substantial capital and vital European expertise into the nascent local market.

In an exclusive interview with The STAR, BII managing director Rohit Anand said the UK government’s development finance arm is “seriously considering” an offshore wind play as it looks to scale in the Philippines’ booming renewable energy sector.

He said BII has been engaging with various companies, including existing offshore wind developers, as it explores the move, though plans have yet to be finalized.

“The offshore wind market is very large in the UK and Europe as well, and we are particularly keen to invest in offshore wind,” said Anand, who also serves as BII’s head of Asia infrastructure and climate direct investments.

He noted that despite its intermittency, offshore wind typically achieves a higher capacity utilization factor than other variable renewables like solar and onshore wind.

For offshore wind farms, the global weighted average capacity factor is forecast to range from 36 to 58 percent by 2030, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

This is higher than onshore wind’s 30 to 55 percent and far exceeds solar’s typical 10 to 25 percent, depending on solar irradiance.

A capacity factor shows how much electricity a facility actually produces compared to the maximum it could generate if it ran at full power all the time.

In the case of solar and wind, power output depends on available sunlight and wind conditions.

“So, to that extent, it (offshore wind) is more firm compared to solar or onshore wind. And I think, eventually, renewables have to be an alternative to baseload coal,” Anand said.

He said BII continues to explore the space, particularly with the Department of Energy’s green energy auction round for offshore wind this year.

The DOE is offering 3,300 megawatts (MW) of fixed-bottom offshore wind capacity, with delivery scheduled from 2028 to 2030.

This aligns with national renewable targets and supports the government’s goal of generating the first kilowatt-hours of offshore wind power before President Marcos’ term ends in 2028.

“Offshore wind projects tend to be very large, and they have very long development cycles. It requires very long-term and risk-taking capital, which we have,” Anand said.

“We would ideally also want to see how the UK can play an important technical and strategic role if we were to get involved in a project like that.”

The World Bank estimates over 178 gigawatts (GW) of technical offshore wind potential in the Philippines, with the government aiming to tap these vast resources as part of its bold energy transition push.

Anand, however, stressed that the pace of BII’s investment would depend mainly on available opportunities, as well as regulations and a ready market for these capital-intensive projects.

BII, which is set to launch a new five-year investment strategy for Southeast Asia next month, has allocated up to £500 million in the region since 2022, with a significant share directed to the Philippines.

It has partnered with Singapore-based Pentagreen Capital and ib vogt Singapore Pte. Ltd. to accelerate the rollout of utility-scale solar and battery storage projects across the region.

In the Philippines, the first project under this partnership is the 99-MW-peak Tantangan Solar Power Plant in South Cotabato.

Targeted for completion this year, the project is projected to generate over 150 gigawatt-hours of clean power annually, enough to power over 82,000 households and avoid more than 66,000 tons of carbon emissions.