Winds of change

IN a recent interview with the Manila Times Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dante "Klink" Ang 2nd, the ambassador of Denmark to the Philippines, Franz-Michael Mellbin, disclosed that a group of Danish companies is planning to invest up to $5 billion in the Philippines' offshore wind power sector. This is significant because, for one thing, the Philippines' offshore wind power sector does not actually exist yet; and for another, the investment amount, if it comes to fruition, would be the equivalent of about 54 percent of the Philippines' annual intake of foreign direct investment (FDI), which totaled about $9.2 billion last year.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), as of 2021, Denmark had almost 7 gigawatts (GW) of total wind energy capacity, of which about 2.3 GW comes from offshore wind. That translates to 5.39 terawatt-hours (TWh) of generation from offshore wind, which in turn supplies roughly 14.7 percent of Denmark's annual electricity demand. Under its medium-term energy plan, Denmark has committed to increasing its offshore wind capacity to 13 GW by 2030, and in February announced plans to auction 9 GW of offshore wind by the end of this year, provided some regulatory questions with the EU can be ironed out.