By Henrylito D. Tacio
Photos by Benjie Palisada
“Industry experts predict that if this pace of growth continues, by 2050 the answer to one third of the world’s electricity needs will be found blowing in the wind.” — National Geographic
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Most of the electricity generated in the Philippines comes from fossil fuels. In fact, about 70% of it and 90% are generated from coal and oil resources, which are imported at varying prices from other nations.
“With fossil-fuel prices continually rising due to dwindling supplies and soaring demand, the cost of our electricity shall rise even further. The best solution is to use existing renewable energy resources to shield us from the cost volatility of fossil fuels,” said Atty. Gia Ibay, the Philippines climate change head of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
According to WWF, the country’s continued reliance on imported fuel contributes to the high electricity rate in the Philippines.
As such, WWF bats for clean and renewable sources of energy. Among those that the Philippines have few competitive advantages — as the country has no significant deposits of fossil fuels are geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar energy.
One renewable energy sources that the country should pay attention is that of wind power. Just recently, “Business Mirror” carried this headline: “Largest wind farm in Southeast Asia starts operating.”
“The Philippines’s bid to wean itself off fossil fuels and tap its massive potential for renewable energy (RE) got a big boost after the Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC) announced the completion of the largest wind farm in Southeast Asia,” wrote Marvyn N. Benaning, author of the news report.
The Burgos Wind Project, as it is called, is located in Burgos, Ilocos Norte. According to EDC Burgos Wind PowerCorp., an affiliate of EDC, it has already informed the Department of Energy (DOE) that its 150-megawatt (MW) project had achieved successful commissioning.
“We are happy to have met our target commissioning date, even a bit earlier than expected. This is a major achievement for us,” Richard B. Tantoco, EDC president and chief operating officer, was quoted as saying. “Renewable energy has a long way to go before it can meet our country’s ever-growing energy demands. But this is a significant step.”
The news report, quoting Tantoco, said the Burgos Wind Project will be providing 370 gigawatt-hours of electricity topower approximately 2 million households. That is enough to displace about 200,000 tons of carbon emissions annually. Carbon dioxide is the primary culprit of climate change, which the world is now experiencing.
The news is indeed a good development. Will other provinces be able to follow this kind of project? Can the country harvest all its winds to generate power?
“Across the developing world, countries are beginning to see the way the wind is blowing,” said Klaus Toepfer, former executive director of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). “Once it was believed that only one percent of their area was suitable for wind power.”
Not anymore. “The serious development of wind power in modern times began in 1973 after the oil crisis shook the confidence of the developed world that oil was there for the asking. Today, wind power is the fastest growing energy source in several regions of Europe, with the United States and India following behind in total installed capacity. And the potential is enormous,” notes Dr. Leon Freris, a visiting professor of renewable energy at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology in Loughborough University in England.
In Denmark, for instance, wind energy now contributes 13 per cent of national energy consumption, the highest proportion of any country in the world. When the wind blows strongly, wind energy supplies more than half the electricity in the western half of the country.
Lester Brown, of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute, said more than 70 countries are now developing windresources. “Between 2000 and 2010, world wind electric generating capacity increased at a frenetic pace from 17,000 megawatts to nearly 200,000 megawatts,” he wrote in “Harnessing Wind, Solar, and Geothermal Energy,” a chapter which appeared in the book, “World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse.”
The Philippines, home to more than 7,000 islands, is following suit. In fact, wind power now makes up a small percentage of the total energy output of the country. Before the Burgos Wind Project, there were the Bangui WindFarm in Bangui in Ilocos Norte and the Wind Energy Power System (WEPS) in Puerto Galera in Mindoro Oriental.
The Bangui Wind Farm, the very first large-scale wind power plant in the country, cost 50 million dollars to build. The windmills were built by Northwind Power Development Corporation, a private firm headed by a Danish engineer. It became operational in June 2005.
According to Northwind, the wind farm supplies up to 40 per cent of the electricity requirement of Ilocos Norte. It also sells the supply to the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative at a discounted rate.
“Power supply is more reliable nowadays and that’s because of the windmills,” Elinao Ramiento, a barangay councillor in Taguiporo, one of the barangays being energized by the 25-megawatt wind power plant, told journalist Girlie Linao Mar.
Ramiento recalled that when a typhoon cut off power supply to the barangay one time, it didn’t take long for the service to return after the deluge. “The windmills apparently made it easier to get power back to us,” he surmised.
According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are more than 1,000 wind sites in the northern and central Philippines, with a potential capacity of at least 7,400 megawatts – enough to power 19 million homes.
“Wind is the movement of air from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure,” the “National Geographic” explains. “In fact, wind exists because the sun unevenly heats the surface of the Earth. As hot air rises, cooler air moves in to fill the void. As long as the sun shines, the wind will blow. And as long as the wind blows, people will harness it topower their lives.”
Today, people are realizing that wind power “is one of the most promising new energy sources” that can serve as an alternative to fossil fuel-generated electricity. Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electrical power, windmills for mechanical power, wind pumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships.
Actually, societies have taken advantage of wind power for thousands of years. The first known use was in 5000 BC when people used sails to navigate the Nile River. Persians had already been using windmills for 400 years by 900 AD in order to pump water and grind grain. Windmills may have even been developed in China before 1 AD, but the earliest written documentation comes from 1219. Cretans were using “literally hundreds of sail-rotor windmills (to) pump water for crops and livestock.”
The Dutch were responsible for many refinements of the windmill, primarily for pumping excess water off land that was flooded. The windmill was further refined in the late 19th century in the United States; some designs from that period are still in use today. The first large windmill to produce electricity was the “American multi-blade design,” built in 1888. Its 12-kilowatt capabilities were later superseded by modern 70-100 kilowatt wind turbines.
“Wind turbines for electricity generation are essentially simple devices, though their design requires deep understanding of the properties of wind, aerodynamics as well as mechanical and electrical engineering,” explains Dr. Freris.
The kinetic energy in the wind is intercepted by three or two rotating, slender blades. The action of these blades is to extract energy from the wind by slowing it down. This extracted energy first appears as mechanical energy on the turbine shaft and then as electrical energy from a generator coupled to the shaft through a gearbox.
“The power in the wind is proportional to the cube of the wind speed, hence doubling of the wind speed results in an eight-fold increase in electrical power generated,” informs. Dr. Freris. “Wind turbines are designed to stop if the windspeed becomes excessive and do not rotate if the wind speed is too low for useful energy extraction.”
Wind turbines are usually congregated in wind farms, consisting of few or as many as 100 machines. By installing several machines on a site the costs of connection to the electricity grid and the operation and maintenance costs are reduced.
Aside from wind power being environment-friendly, it is also cheaper. “If a household used wind power for 25 percent of its needs, it would spend only $4 or $5 dollars per month for it and the price is still dropping,” contendsalterenergy.org. “Compare this to 4.8 to 5.5 cents per kilowatt per hour (kWh) for coal or 11.1 to 14.5 cents per kWh for nuclear power.”
But of course, wind power should not be the only source of electricity. Generally, hydroelectricity complements windpower very well. When the wind is blowing strongly, nearby hydroelectric plants can temporarily hold back their water, and when the wind drops they can rapidly increase production again giving a very even power supply.
The answer is not only blowing in the wind but the future is based on it. As singer Peter Frampton wrote: “The future’s in the air, I can feel it everywhere; blowing with the wind of change…”
