Thank you very much for your introduction, our Energy Secretary, Secretary Popo Lotilla.

Of course our partner in the development of the renewables specifically of the wind power here in Ilocos Norte, the Ayala Corporation and their Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala; Ayala Corporation Special Adviser Fernando Zobel de Ayala – I am not used to calling them with their full names because we went to school together and so yeah – it’s a little bit unusual for me to be very formal with them like I’m about to do with the Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative Sandro Marcos. [laughter and applause] Local government officials of Ilocos Norte, of the municipality of Pagudpud, I finally found the mayor he’s here at ‘yung ating mga Apong Sanggunian [applause]; of course the Vice Governor, Vice Governor Cecil; the officials and employees of ACEN; the distinguished guests who are here with us today; ladies and gentlemen, naimbag nga malem yo amin.

Well, now Northern Luzon, Ilocos Norte in particular, has been blessed with excellent wind energy potential. And it is really a blessing because it is not something that you can decide as a political decision.

Noong una naming tinayo ‘yung Bangui and the first time it went online and they started to get – it started to get publicity, maraming governor tumatawag sa akin noon at sinasabi, “Paano niyo ginawa ‘yan? We want to do it dito rin sa probinsya namin.” At sabi ko hindi ‘yan political decision. It is God who decides where you put the wind farm. [laughter]

Kaya talaga suwerte talaga, buwenas lang talaga tayo that we are – that we have the potential for the wind farm. And it started very innocuously. When I first became governor in 1998, about a year after, there was this group that came, that talked to me about putting up a wind farm because the wind map showed that there was good potential here in Ilocos Norte.

At the time, I looked at the numbers it wasn’t economically viable. We just couldn’t do it. The technology wasn’t good enough yet. The difference in pricing could not be covered, the ROI was far too long. So we shelved it.

And doon sa bandang Bangui, I think those of you who have been around there, may area doon na napakalakas ng hangin. Pero nakita ko sabi ko sayang ito hindi naman natin mataniman dahil ‘yung lupa is not good for agri.

So I called on my friends na golfer, sabi ko tingnan ninyo kung puwedeng lagyan ng golf course ito. So pinuntahan nila. Nagkita kami after a while and they said imposible, masyadong malakas ang hangin.

Doon naisip ko sabi ko we were having the problem at the time where ang dalas ng brownout dito sa Ilocos Norte.

Noong tinanong ko sa ating mga grid operator kung bakit ganoon pati sa ating mga cooperative, ika nila dahil ‘yung power natin galing sa bandang Maynila. Kaya’t ‘yung transmission line anything wrong that happens along the transition line, putol ang kuryente dito.

So naisip ko dapat mayroon tayong source of power dito. I put the two and two together and made five [laughter] and we had the idea binuhay ko. And that’s how it started.

And we are very, very happy to have been – to be considered the pioneers now of wind power at least and hopefully patuloy sa solar power and all renewables dito sa Ilocos Norte.

And that is why I am here today because it is important to highlight the importance of our shift from fossil fuels to renewables. And this is a very, very important and very, very large part of that shift that we are trying to implement in our energy mix.

At kaya naman napakalaki na. One, this expansion is the biggest single project – wind farm project in the whole of the Philippines. Mayroon siguro ‘yung maliliit ‘yung mga phases but this is the biggest single phase expansion sa buong Pilipinas.

And although the Ayalas came – they were not the first… Boy, when you started you really didn’t stop. You just kept going and going, palaki nang palaki ‘yung mga windmill, palaki nang palaki ‘yung mga turbine and patuloy pa rin.

Sa aking pagbibiyahe pagka’t kinakausap natin ang mga kaibigan nating dayuhan tungkol sa renewable energy and we talked about where are the areas, halimbawa solar, solar sa Pilipinas kahit saan puwede.

Ang problema sa solar nagco-compete sa lupa ng agrikultura. Kaya’t ang nagiging uso ngayon is floating solar. Nilalagay sa dagat o nilalagay sa tubig, may isda sa ilalim, may aquaculture sa ilalim. Iyon ang bago nating mga ginagawa.

Ang wind farm sabi nila ang pinakamaganda pa rin ay banda doon sa inyo. And they showed me maps, they showed us maps when we were traveling, when talking to the businessmen, hindi lamang ito ‘yung nakikita natin around Bangui, Pagudpud, all the way down almost halos na doon sa eastern towns ay talagang puwede.

But even more, dahil ang pinupuntahan ng teknolohiya ng wind farm ay palaki nang palaki. Iyong aming sinimulan, the first 18 turbines were rated at about 1.6 something, 1.7 megawatts. Itong nasa harap natin 5 megawatts na ‘yan. Ang pakpak dati is only about 50 something meters. Ang tower is only 100. This is already 150 meters and the blades are more than 100 meters long.

Kaya makita mo the technology has been moving forward. So ‘yun ang tinatanong namin, bakit – kung puwede ba interesado naman kayo sa Pilipinas, interesado kayo sa Ilocos Norte, saan pa tayo puwedeng maglagay?

And the new technologies are pushing the wind farms offshore. Kasi papaliwanag sa inyo ng mga engineer ang pinakamahirap – the reason why you cannot put a wind farm anywhere is because of the – who are the technicians here? – the laminar flow of the wind that have to be – it has to be without – it has to be ‘yung tinatawag nilang smooth bale ang takbo ng hangin.

Ngayon sa iba’t ibang lugar, kung minsan may laminar flow, kung minsan maganda ang takbo ng hangin, kung minsan hindi. There is turbulence. ‘Pag may turbulence, walang efficiency ‘yung wind farm, ‘yung mga turbine.

Ngayon sabi nila ang pinakamaganda ngayon hindi mo na kailangan alalahanin na maayos ang takbo ng hangin if you are offshore.

So nagtanong ako, saan natin ilalagay kung sa Pilipinas, saan niyo gusto ilagay ang offshore? Sabi nila sa inyo rin, dito rin. Dito pa rin ang pinakamaganda.

Kaya’t ‘pag sinabing blessing itong nangyari sa atin talagang eh biyaya ng Diyos ‘yan sa atin kaya’t magpasalamat tayo na pinagbigyan [applause] ang Ilocos Norte na hindi lamang makapag-produce para sa ating probinsya ay natutulungan pa natin ang sitwasyon ng enerhiya sa buong Pilipinas.

At lahat nitong bagong teknolohiya ay talagang titingnan natin. We continue to work on all of the sources of renewable. As I mentioned solar briefly, tinitingan natin ‘yung pagagandahin natin ‘yung mga geothermal, ‘yung mga dam natin baka puwede pang i-expand ang hydrothermal na power na kinukuha natin diyan.

Tinitingnan na rin natin ‘yung nuclear power. Huwag kayong ninerbiyosin. Titiyakin natin na lahat ‘yan ay magiging ligtas at walang – hindi maaari magkaroon ng mga ‘yung naririnig natin mga Fukushima, mga Three Mile Island. That’s old technology that will not happen anymore. So we will make sure of all that.

But nonetheless, kailangan na kailangan patuloy na tayong naghahanap ng bagong renewable energy sources. Kailangan patuloy ang ating pagtatayo ng mga facilities kagaya nito dahil kailangan ngayon sa market ay clean energy.

Ito ‘yung isang natutunan ko noong kausap ko ‘yung mga mining na kompanya, ‘yung mga malalaki, ika nila, sabi ngayon ang requirement ng buyer para – halimbawa sabihin natin mining. Iyong pagka binigay namin, pagka ‘yung produkto namin pinagbibili namin sa isang buyer, tatanong ‘yung buyer kailangan patunayan ninyo that you use clean energy para gawin itong produkto ninyo, kung hindi, hindi namin bibilhin.

So it is not just talking about climate change. It is not just talking about helping the renewables gain a bigger percentage of the energy mix. It is also a practical matter. This is the way we do business today.

Hindi tayo puwedeng magsabi na mayroon tayong ginawang steel mill. Iyong steel mill lahat ng kanyang produkto, lahat ng kanyang power nakukuha niya sa coal-fired na plant, walang bibili no’n. Walang bibili kahit saan. Sasabihin hindi, hindi namin ano… It has to be green energy. It has to have been produced and manufactured via green energy.

So that gives our effort for making renewables a more dominant percentage of our energy mix becomes even a commercial issue. And so that’s why it is all important.

Climate change is of course of the paramount – paramount concern.  And lahat ng usapan namin ngayon sa pamahalaan kahit anong pag-usapan namin, pag-usapan natin well ‘yung agrikultura, infrastructure, digitalization, health, lahat, kahit papaano hindi mo maiwasan mapupunta ang usapan sa climate change and the effects of climate change and the changes that we have to do or the way we work because we have to adjust to climate change, we have to adapt to the effects of climate change.

So number one talagang priority ‘yun. Ngunit puro plus ito kasi kahit na sasabihin nila na, “Okay you are helping the planet but there’s no other advantage.” Well, it brings us good power supply in the Philippines. Alam mo naman – alam niyo naman tayo ay naghahanap ng karagdagang suplay dahil kulang ang suplay natin sa buong Pilipinas kulang ang suplay natin doon sa ating demand. At hindi natin mapalaki ang ating ekonomiya kung hindi sapat ang energy supply. Ganoon lang kasimple ‘yun.

Ngayon ay mayroon tayong mga hinaharap na problema dahil hindi – mayroon tayo – kung minsan sapat naman ang suplay, ‘yung distribution ngayon ang nagiging problema.

Kaya’t dahan-dahan nating kailangan ayusin ‘yung bawat step diyan sa pag-produce at sa pag-distribute ng kuryente para hindi lamang para sa ating mga consumers, sa mga household, kung hindi para sa ating mga planta, para sa ating mga negosyo, lahat ng nagdadala ng business -- ng economic activity dito sa Pilipinas ay kailangan talaga nating habulin, kailangan nating pagandahin para dumami at magkaroon ng trabaho at mayroong ginagastos ang taong-bayan.

So it really is – it does not affect us on just one single dimension. It affects us on every part of the work that we do, especially those of us who are administrators in public service eh ‘yun talaga ang kailangan naming isipin.

But again, it is a very proud day for me to see that what we had started has continued and it looks like it will further continue. After this, I hope that we will be coming back fairly soon to inaugurate the 100th turbine. [laughter and applause]

And tayo naman mga tiga-Ilocos, let us continue to keep the province as the pioneer for renewables. We are leading the way for the whole country. [applause] And it is a good place to be because it is very important to not only Ilocanos, not only tayo dito sa Ilocos Norte, but for the entire Philippines.

So we can – although it’s a complicated business. Hindi madali gawin ‘to. The basic technology is quite mature but isipin niyo ‘yung logistics para magdala ng isang pakpak na 100 plus meters.

Kaya kami doon sa Bangui naglagay kami ng pantalan doon. Bago matapos, mga 85 percent finished binagyo. Tinayo na naman namin. The reason we had to put pantalan there was because ‘yung blade ng windmill kung ibaba sa Currimao, hindi makadaan sa Laoag dahil masyado… Tinesting namin eh may mahaba na stick na ganoon, tinataas ‘yung alambre. Nakakadaan ‘yung matataas, ‘yung mga nacelle pero pagliko hindi kaya nung… Nakita niyo naman doon sa video, ang haba-haba nung buntot na pagliko nung blade.

So that is how we started. And now, it’s the same thing, there is a jetty here. Malaking logistics challenge ito. Ngunit talagang I can only say that whatever it is that we have to do, it is going to be worth it, it is going to be of benefit to our people, it will be of benefit to the country. And that is why this is important work.

That’s why we thank the Ayala Group for their continuing support [applause] in our pursuit not in Ilocos Norte but in the Philippines for all of these renewable energies. And the time hopefully will come – hopefully soon – that we can say na iurong na natin ang energy mix natin in favor of renewables.

Malapit na basta’t patuloy nating gagawin ito at pagka patuloy na mayroon tayong mga partner kagaya ni JAZA kagaya ni Fernando ay hindi tayo – we cannot fail.

So let us keep going and congratulations to all that have put in I am sure a great deal of hard work before this – it’s possible to inaugurate this 166 megawatt expansion.

Maraming salamat inyong lahat. And we are grateful for your continuing interest here in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, and in promoting the supply of electricity from renewables.

Thank you very much. Naimbag nga malem yo amin. [applause]

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Watch here: Presentation of the 160-Megawatt Wind Farm in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte

Location: Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte