NEA taps JICA to address power co-ops’ system loss concerns

MANILA, Philippines - The National Electrification Administration (NEA), the state-owned agency mandated to oversee the reliability of electric cooperatives in the country, has tapped the Japan International Cooperation (ECs) Agency (JICA) to address the system loss concerns of some of these cooperatives.

System loss refers to the total amount of electric energy losses from electric power generation to distribution. The project particularly focused on mitigating system losses from the electric power distribution activities of the ECs.

The partnership is aimed at helping ECs cut their system losses further. The current system loss level is within the cap of 13 percent set by the Energy Regulatory Commission, the power sector regulator.

To date, around 70 percent of the ECs have below-the-cap system loss while 19 ECs have single-digit system loss, latest data from NEA showed.

For the past 10 years, the ECs have been posting a gradual reduction in national system loss from 15.62 percent in 2002 to 14.3 percent in 2006. This declined further to 11.87 percent in 2011.

For the partnership with NEA, JICA tapped the expertise of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) to collaborate with NEA and the ECs through a technical cooperation project titled “System Loss Reduction for Philippine Electric Cooperatives.”

One of the key outputs of this project is a system loss reduction manual which aims to develop the technical capability and planning strategies of NEA and the ECs to reduce distribution system losses.

With the manual as a tool, more ECs are expected to reduce their losses and improve their technical performance.

NEA Administrator Edita Bueno urged ECs to learn from JICA and make use of the Manual to help them in their technical operation and ensure the continuing reduction of their system losses.

JICA director general for industrial development and public policy development Hidetoshi Irigaki, for his part said: “I hope the results of our efforts in this project will contribute to the development of the Philippines in the near future, as well as to the enhancement of friendly relations between our two countries, which have been fostered in the process of the project.”