Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi (seated, left) and Japanese Ministy of Economy, Trade and Industry Deputy Director-General Kazuhisa Kobayasho (seated, right) get ready to sign the letter of intent (LOI) on the energy technical cooperation. “The technical assistance is needed for Filipinos to get more value for their money, in terms of investment, energy development and utilization.”

Tokyo, Japan — The Philippines and Japan agreement signed a technical cooperation to improve electric infrastructure and efficiency of local power plants.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Deputy Director-General of the Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) Kazuhisa Kobayashi sealed the letter of intent (LOI) for the agreement at the Prime Minister’s Office in central Tokyo last Wednesday.

“The technical assistance is needed for Filipinos to get more value for their money, in terms of investment, energy development and utilization. In the end, it should address the overall drive towards energy efficiency,” Cusi said.

“The technical assistance is needed for Filipinos to get more value for their money.”

The technical cooperation involved the use of Japanese technology and practices; to propose ways to speed up the installation of efficient facilities; providing training for the government and independent power producers to enhance their operations; and to provide recommendations on power plant rehabilitation.

A series of coordination meetings between DoE and METI officials were earlier held to resolve problems in the local power sector.

The technical cooperation was based on METI’s study on the local power supply and demand outlook, current electricity tariff, electricity rate, and disaster resiliency that complement the DoE’s performance assessment and audit of power generation, transmission, and distribution systems and facilities.

The cooperation deal is in accordance with the Department of Energy’s (DoE) function to disseminate information resulting from energy research programs for the optimal development of various forms of energy production and utilization, as indicated in the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001.