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‘We are committed to working closely with the relevant agencies to ensure that the CSP proceeds as smoothly as possible’
The Department of Energy or DoE has kicked off the competitive selection process or CSP for Microgrid Service Providers or MGSP to help expedite the electrification of 98 unserved and underserved areas in the country.
"We are committed to working closely with the relevant agencies to ensure that the CSP proceeds as smoothly as possible," Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said in a press statement on Monday.
"Our primary goal is to expedite the delivery of reliable and sustainable electricity services in all areas not only through microgrid systems but other appropriate solutions depending on the area's characteristics," she added.
Microgrid system rules
Republic Act 11646, or the Microgrid Systems Act of 2022, mandates the conduct of a CSP before an MGSP can serve off-grid areas.
It likewise provided a 90-day timeline to complete the conduct of CSP from the pre-qualification until the submission to the Energy Regulatory Commission of the awarded contract.
To ensure an effective implementation of the law, the DoE said it will consult with the Distribution Utilities and other instrumentalities to update the National Transmission Expansion Plan and further validate other unserved and underserved areas for a possible second round of bidding.
Based on the recently released 2023-2032 National Total Electrification Roadmap NTER, the initial 98 identified areas have a total of 15,645 households, or equivalent to around 39 percent of the total households in the unserved and underserved areas. These are qualified for microgrid systems due to their number, household density, and demand in the said areas.
Clustered as 49 lots, these areas may be viable for MGSP given the higher demand, and the households are not widely dispersed.
The other unserved and underserved areas that were not included in this initial round of CSP were identified as having either low demand and/or a limited number of dispersed households.
The DoE admitted that electrifying these areas using a microgrid system may be more costly or technically difficult. As such, it plans to use standalone systems, such as PV Solar Home Systems, as the most appropriate and optimal solution.