Modern Energy Management (MEM) has been appointed as owner’s representative and technical advisor for Highland Infrastructure’s flagship 250MW wind project in Philippines.
On 27 January, Highland closed a $1m non-recourse loan from SEACEF (Southeast Asia Clean Energy Fund, backed by the Green Climate Fund) to fund development of the project.
Microsoft, the first large corporation to contribute capital to SEACEF, is also now providing support from its own $1bn Climate Innovation Fund into SEACEF.
In 2020, SEACEF approved three projects that represent over 1GW of renewable energy capacity, of which the Highland Infrastructure Philippines project is one.
Highland Infrastructure managing director Ed Douglas said: “A number of our strongest projects have matured well and we are now working with investors to fund their construction as well as further development of our pipeline.
“We consider this 250MW Philippines wind project one of our flagship projects and have appointed MEM as our owner’s representative due to their unique experience delivering investment grade projects in the region.”
MEM managing director Aaron Daniels said: “We believe this project is a good fit for Highland’s growth plans, with competitive attributes that make it a solid business case for investors.
“These include a high capacity factor and competitive construction cost due to unique attributes of the site.
“MEM has been very active in the Philippines market, so we are very happy to support Highland Infrastructure’s project.”
Due to its size, and to facilitate an effective power sales strategy, the project will be constructed in phases.
The first 40MW is expected to begin construction in Q2/2022.
Douglas added: “Highland Infrastructure aims to expand on its investor relationships into 2022 as growth across the region continues to pick up pace.
“We aim to build 1GW of investment grade projects throughout Southeast Asia over the next five years and are working with Modern Energy in a strategic partnership to ensure progress on those projects.
“MEM has a strong track record of developing, building, and operating investment grade projects throughout the region.”
To meet Philippines’ objective to increase the renewable energy-based capacity to 15,304MW by 2030, the country’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP, 2011-2030) includes a goal of adding a total of 2345MW of commissioned wind capacity with a secondary goal of reaching wind grid parity in 2025.
As of 2019, the wind capacity of the Philippines was 427MW.