This is something new for the Philippines in so far as energy resource is concerned, but this deserves a second look and the country should not hesitate to welcome and give it a try.

Indeed, we have been looking for more sources of power and energy, what with the looming power shortage that have besieged the country over the years, especially now with the never-ending oil price hikes that do not seem to leave us alone.

The good news is that Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s leading supplier of wind power solutions, opened Thursday a global IT hub in this country, its fourth global IT hub worldwide.

Vestas senior vice-president Torben Bonde said its local IT unit called Vestas Services Philipines Inc. will support Vestas’ global team’s IT operations including surveillance, service desk, operations support and programming competencies.

"Our IT hub in the Philippines will make it possible for Vestas IT to streamline its global IT services throughout Vestas’ business and enable us to operate our IT reliant business areas more efficiently," Bonde said.

Located in Makati City, Bonde said the IT hub employs around 25 IT professionals to be ramped up to 100 by the end of this year and to reach 200 employes by end of 2011.

"This makes our Makati IT hub the biggest in Vestas outside Randers, Denmark," Bonde said.

He added that they chose to locate in Manila because of the skills and competencies of the local workforce.

The Philippine IT hub will help in the handling of real-time data of its 11,500 turbines around the world, 18,300 PCs/laptops, answer more than 6,000 service calls a week, 6,000 core SAP users and approximately 3,900 core XA users.

As the world’s leading modern energy provider, Vestas produces the widest range of wind turbines. It produces nacelle, the main part of the wind turbine, in 15 locations and craft blades in 7 locations globally.

The Vestas Group employs 21,000 around the globe with 840 people from the IT division.

In the Philippines, Vestas operates a 33-megawatt wind energy farm in the Ilocos region.

Sean Sutton, president of Vestas Asia Pacific Wind Technology Pte. Ltd. (Asia-Pacific), said the Philippines has huge potential for wind energy sources mostly from Northern Luzon.

At present, Sutton said, power generated through wind only accounts for 1 percent of total global demand but this indigenous power source is expected to grow to 10 percent by 2020.

"This is because wind energy is the best and cleanest option in reducing CO2," he said.

Sutton said that wind energy is competitive, predictable, clean and fast as it can be put on stream 18 months from its conceptualization.

The world’s number one in modern energy started installing its first wind turbine in 1979 and has since played an active role in the fast-moving wind power industry.

Vesta’s core business comprises the development, manufacture, sale and maintenance of wind technology that uses the energy of the wind to generate electricity.

Its expertise, however, goes beyond just wind turbines.

"We specialize in planning, installation, operation and maintenance. Our competencies cover everything from site studies to serve and maintenance," Sutton said.

Its Asia Pacific head office is located in Singapore and has sales and service offices in Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan and Philippines.

This type of technology must be welcomed, needless to state. We live in a world of modernization, the world gets smaller everyday owing to the fast-rising technology and modern communications. We cannot afford to lag behind, nor allow ourselves to let the opportunity pass when we get the first chance to keep pace with the most advanced nations of the world. Progress comes to people who knows how to take advantage of the rare chances that seldom presents itself. It’s our turn to modernize, we must not let it pass. We simply can’t afford to.*