By: Ronnel W. Domingo 05:16 AM June 27,
2019
National Power Corp., through its Small Power Utilities
Group (Napocor-SPUG), is the top entity globally in terms of developing and
operating minigrids that help bring electricity to hard-to-serve areas,
according to the World Bank.
The multilateral lender said in its report titled “Mini
Grids for Half a Billion People: Market Outlook and Handbook for Decision
Makers” Napocor-SPUG led with 950 minigrids—both installed and being
developed—trailed by Russia’s RAO with 500 minigrids.
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Also, Napocor-SPUG’s portfolio is almost 10 times that of
the leading private-sector developer of minigrids—PowerGen, which has 100 such
facilities across seven countries across Africa.
In terms of the number of people benefiting from an
organization’s minigrids, Napocor-SPUG ranks second worldwide with 7 million
people, or about 7 percent of the population. The global leader is Afghanistan
with 8 million people, or 21 percent of the population benefiting from
minigrids.
The World Bank said minigrids, which were previously
viewed as a niche solution to closing the energy gap, could provide power to as
many as 500 million people by 2030.
The bank said minigrids were now an option that
complemented extensions to the main grid as well as disparate solar home
systems thanks to falling costs, a dramatic increase in quality of service, and
government policies that promote minigrids.
It added that while private sector–led minigrid
initiatives in well-established markets have a better chance of reaching
exponential growth, national utilities also see an expanding role for minigrids
based on their organizational cost-benefit analysis.
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