Studies
Rural electrification. N/A N/A
Support to DOE and NPC in setting up a rural electrification program in the Philippines
| Country : | Philippines. . |
| Client : | The World Bank . AFD (French Development Agency) |
| Start Date : | 07/2015 |
| Completion Date : | 12/2015 |
| Value of services : | 238 500 USD |
| Funder : | AFD (French Development Agency ) . European Union |
| Associate/Partner : | MBA & Associates Incorporated (MBA) |
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| Description : |
With partial funding by a 17,5M€ protocol loan of the French Treasury to the Government of the Philippines signed in 2005, the PRES project was implemented in Masbate. In 2009, the project was commissioned and accepted by NPC: 154 mini grids supplied by small diesel gensets (7 and 15kVA) operating for 5 hours a day and 5130 household level SHS (Solar Home Systems), providing service to over 17 000 households and 800 lamposts. AFD’s expectations are that the detailed assessment of the PRES situation and solution formulation leads to (1) the emerging of technical and institutional options of broad relevance to similar situations in the Philippines, and to (2) the formulation of Rural Electrification Program which could be funded through an AFD loan / grant. |
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| Description of the Actual Services Provided | Specific objectives are described hereafter: 1- In 2005 the selected Barangays were located away from the existing MASELCO (local Distribution Utility) grid, and not planned for grid extension before 5 to 7 years. With additional funds from the BLEP (Barangay Line Enhancement Programme) and from the SEP (Sitio Electrification Programme) the local utility MASELCO has the resources to take over 116 micro grids and 930 SHS. This situation implies: a. To confirm the technical issues related to the MV network connecting to the village level distribution grids b. Working out legal issues related to responsibility / ownership shifting of assets and impacts if any on asset ownership c. Quantifying the reusable equipment (diesel gensets and PV panels) which could possibly be reused as hybrid systems and as a corollary, what type of islands / locations / load profiles would be typically suited for hybrid systems 2- While the quality of the installations under PRES was found to be excellent, the flaw of the original programme is the absence of proper tariff structure and organisation of operations and management. NPC fortunately took over the assets as interim operator and mobilised required financing to bridge the gap between low income (due to underestimated tariffs) and expenses through mobilisation of funds through UCME. The challenge lied in : a. proposing an organisation of operations and management with community / utility involvement b. revisiting the tariff structure, also looking into the current developments in the Philippines related to mainstreaming of PV and new tariffs being proposed c. discussing these suggestions with relevant Filipino stakeholders (NPC, DOE, NEA, ERC, ….) so that this may become a generalised scheme at the national level. |