INDEPENDENT power produ-cer Trans-Asia Power Generation Corp.,the power arm of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Corp., is looking at undertaking a prefeasibility study for its proposed wind farm in Guimaras.

“We are looking at putting up between 10 megawatts [MW] to 20 MW of wind power-generating capacity in Guimaras,” Francisco Viray, president of Trans-Asia Power, told reporters.

He added the company has had good results from its wind assessment last month.

Right now, according to Viray, Trans-Asia Power is measuring wind in San Lorenzo, Guimaras, which is one of the five towns the company is looking at Guimaras.

Viray said Trans-Asia Power will be going into prefeasibility study in the second semester of the year to determine if the company would push through with the project.

Upon completion of the prefeasibility study, which could take a year, Viray said it could take another year to complete a feasibility study.

Viray also noted that as a rule of thumb a wind farm could cost $2 million per MW.  Though Trans-Asia has yet to reach the stage where it would need to determine how to finance the project, Viray said that the project could actually be funded through project financing.

Viray further said the wind farm Trans-Asia Power plans to build will have a maximum capacity of 20 MW, and will be operated as a hybrid power plant along with its diesel power plant.

Trans-Asia Power runs a 52-MW power plant that supplies all the requirements of Holcim Philippines in Norzagaray, Bulacan; and Bacnotan, La Union, which make these plants self-sufficient and fully independent of local suppliers, as well as makes all the electricity supplied by local power- generating companies fully available to the residents of the area.

The US Department of Energy-National Renewable Energy Laboratory study earlier showed that 47 provinces out of 73 in the Philippines have at least 500 MW in wind potential and another 25 provinces with at least 1,000 MW.

Another study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines also showed 1,038 wind sites in the country could generate about 7,404 MW of electricity, which identified 686 wind potential sites in 28 provinces in Luzon or equivalent to 4,900 MW.

A total of 305 wind sites with a total potential of 2,168 MW can be found in the Visayas and 47 sites in Mindanao with a generating power of 336 MW.

THE House Committee on Ways and Means on Tuesday endorsed for plenary approval the proposal to use the P16.7-billion tax windfall in subsidizing electricity, fuel and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption to ease the severe economic burden of Filipinos in the wake of the relentless increase in the prices of basic commodities and services.

THE Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) is now on a five-day road show in Taiwan along with officials of the Subic and Clark free ports to entice Taiwanese firms to take advantage of the improved investment opportunities under the  Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor agreement.

BAGS and belts made of plastics— materials that usually end up clogging our canals and causing flood. Keychain, table organizer, card and pen holder, picture frame and other cool home or office accessories made of recycled paper or plastic waste, such as tetra packs.

THE unabated spike in the price of fertilizer can pose a threat to the rice self-sufficiency target of the Philippine government by 2010.

DAVAO CITY—A business chamber executive here said member companies have “scrimped, saved and recycled” to stay afloat amid the hard times, and said he was “appealing to everybody to do the same.”

INDEPENDENT power produ-cer Trans-Asia Power Generation Corp.,the power arm of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Corp., is looking at undertaking a prefeasibility study for its proposed wind farm in Guimaras.

CLARK FREE PORT, Pampanga—Two airliners based at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) are expected to provide the much-needed service to ferry overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Middle East amid the reported high cost of booking and the shortage of flights.

THE House Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs has scheduled a bill extending credit assistance to Filipinos who want to work abroad but don’t have enough means to process their work papers for plenary deliberation.