Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- May 27, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Department
of Energy (DOE) is coming out with new rules to speed up the deployment of
small-scale renewable energy (RE) projects across off-grid areas across the
country.
The DOE has issued a draft circular,
laying down new and separate guidelines toward accelerated deployment of
distributed, small-scale RE facilities to achieve affordable, stable and
sufficient energy supply nationwide.
The new guidelines support the
achievement of the objectives of the RE Act of 2008 and to meet the country’s
goal of total electrification.
The agency is seeking industry
stakeholders’ input to finalize the guidelines.
The DOE said RE resources are
scalable, diverse and widely-distributed, which can provide sustainable energy
solutions to electricity end-users, especially in remote, isolated, and
off-grid areas in the country.
The proposed circular also gives
end-users the option to develop and produce their electricity requirements as
part of demand-side management through qualified and eligible RE developer.
This is in time for the promulgation
of the various RE market development support policies such as the Renewable
Portfolio Standards (RPS) Rules for both on-grid and off-grid areas, Green
Energy Option Program (GEOP) and Net Metering for RE.
RPS requires distribution utilities
to source a portion of their power supply from eligible renewable energy
producers, while GEOP empowers end-users to choose renewable energy resources
for their energy requirements.
Because of these policies, the DOE
expects that Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and/or Distributed Energy
Generation (DG) technologies would expand rapidly in the country because it can
complement power supply in the main grid or provide the most cost-effective
energy option for remote or isolated or off- grid and missionary areas.
Moreover, the agency said the
proposed guidelines would streamline the permits and licensing requirements for
energy projects, and implement the ease of doing business for small-grid and
distributed RE projects.
The DOE said the end view is to
reduce costs that are passed on to or paid by the electricity end-users.
Under the draft guidelines, RE
developers are required to apply and register their distributed and small-grid
RE facilities of not more than one megawatt in capacity located in on-grid and
off-grid areas.
Applications will be evaluated by the
Renewable Energy Management Bureau (REMB) of the DOE.
If deemed legally, technically and
financially qualified, the project will be issued a certificate of registration
(COR) which is valid of 25 years.
The COR grants the small-grid RE
developer an exclusive right to explore, develop and utilize the RE resource
over its registered area, as well as avail of the fiscal and non-fiscal
incentives and privileges under the RE Act.
The project will then be monitored
by DOE’s REMB and Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB).
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