The Department of Energy (DOE) is hoping to bid out the microgrid systems to qualified power firms within the year to accelerate and ensure the government’s goal of total electrification by 2028.
DOE Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said during the Giga Summit that in areas with clusters of households, microgrid systems can be implemented.
“These localized power grids function independently, offering a reliable and efficient electricity supply to the entire community,” Guevara said.
Microgrid systems are a group of interconnection loads of power generation facility that act as an integrated power generation and distribution system.
Guevara said DOE has initiatives and policies to achieve the government’s target of total electrification.
“With over 7,000 islands, this target may only be realized if we diversify our energy mix while ensuring a path towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral, and clean energy future and by requiring more energy sources to support the country’s increasing power demand for economic recovery and development,” she said.
She said that DOE’s National Total Electrification Framework consists of four distinct electrification strategies, tailored to suit specific geographical locations, the contiguity of households, and their distance from existing distribution facilities including the microgrid systems.
Guevara said one strategy is to to connect individual households to the existing grid or power supply system, extending the distribution lines and providing household connections to cover these regions, in remote or unserved areas, and deploying Stand-Alone Home Systems such as solar home stems or other renewable energy sources, can be deployed to provide independent power solutions to individual households.
“DOE is confident that we can achieve our energy goals, but we need the commitment and investments of time, knowledge, and technologies from the energy stakeholders to make them happen. With innovations, appropriate policies, openness to adopt new technologies, and adaptability to new situations, I believe that the Philippine electric supply industry will achieve 50% RE in 2040,” she said.
