Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the Philippines

 

 

Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development

 

 

The atlas was created using an advanced computerized mapping system called Geographical Information System (GIS) which incorporates gridded terrain data and formatted meteorological data. Surface, satellite and upper-air data were assembled, processed,and analyzed. These datasets included informations provided by the PAGASA, NPC, data sets from the United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), and other US data.

 

The atlas shows that the best wind resources are found in several regions. Over 10,000 Km2 of windy land areas have been estimated to exist with good-to-excellent wind resource potential. Using conservative assumptions of about 7MW per Km2, this windy land could support over 70,000 MW of potential installed capacity.

 

However, additional studies are required to more accurately assess the wind electric potential, considering factors such as existing transmission and accessibility.

 

 

Wind power is classified into marginal, moderate, good and excellent. The classifications, based on wind power density and wind speed, were established for two categories - one for utility scale applications, ranging from marginal to excellent,and one for rural power applications, ranging from moderate to excellent. In general, locations with an annual average wind speed of 6.5 to 7.0 meters per second (MPS) or greater are most suitable for utility grid-connected wind energy systems. Rural power applications are typically viable at lower wind speeds (5.5 to 6.0 mps), and in some cases at wind speeds as low as 4.5 mps.

 

 

Energy sector

 

 

The map supports Philippine Government efforts to promote the development of wind energy and complements the current monitoring of prospective wind sites in various parts of the country. Developers will be guided to initiate investment activities in either site-specific resource development or wind power generation.

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