MANILA, Philippines – At least 18 new proposals have been filed with the Department of Energy (DoE) by firms seeking to harness ocean currents for power generation as part of the the country’s bid to increase its renewable energy sources.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said this is a welcome development and the department is now evaluating at these proposals to put up ocean or marine-powered technologies in the country’s waters.

"We're happy to now see 18 ocean technology applicants. Ideally, we want to see a lot more because we have so much sea and islands here," he said.

DoE assistant secretary Mario Marasigan said they are carefully studying these proposals as these are relatively new technology.

"We still have to evaluate. We have to make sure that their technologies will work here. We need to look at economics and the financials. We need to look at the costs of energy to see if it will be beneficial to the government and the consumers," Marasigan said.

But Marasigan agreed that ocean technology is very promising since “we are an archipelago. We have more water than land. So why not tap these resources if you have more waters than land."

The DoE has already approved the plan of Deep Ocean Power Philippines Inc., joint venture between Filipino and American investors, to build the first ocean power facility in the country in 2012.

DOPPI is going to put two ocean-run power facilities in Panay and Mindoro with initial capacity of 10 to 20 megawatts (MW) each. It is so far the only ocean-based power technology approved by the DoE as part of the 87 service RE contracts signed by the department recently.

Last year, the DoE said it plans to develop 100 megawatts (MW) ocean thermal energy resource potential In San Jose, Antique. DoE data showed that this 100 MW project would need an investment of some $250 million.