Solar power users may sell excess eletricity

MANILA, Philippines - Solar power users may now sell their excess electricity from their solar photovoltaic systems with the net-metering program already in effect, solar power provider Propmech Corp. announced over the weekend.

This comes as a welcome development to electricity consumers  on the back of the tiered-increase to be implemented within the first quarter of the year.

Propmech said selling surplus electricity produced by solar power users back to the grid is now possible with the implementation of the net-metering program provided for in the Renewable Energy Act of 2008.

“Those interested in tapping renewable energy such as solar power will find net metering to be just the right incentive to go green,” said the company in an advisory.

The so-called Net Metering program would allow electricity end-users who are updated in the payment of their electricity bills to their distribution utility to engage in distribution generation.

This means that they can generate electricity from renewable energy (RE) sources like solar, wind, biomass or such other RE Systems not exceeding 100 kilowatts that can be installed within the end-users’ premises.

This is according to the net metering guide, which is a joint initiative of the Department of Energy (DOE) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic and Technology.

According to the guide, the distribution utility or DU “gives a peso credit for the excess electricity received equivalent to the DU’s blended generation cost, excluding other generation adjustments, and deducts the credits earned to the customer’s electric bill.”

Propmech Corp. offers solar power packages and services through its subsidiary Green Heat Corp, which are both integrated systems providers specializing in solar panels.

“Our complete line of solar PV systems and technical knowledge and experience can help clients choose what is best for them,” said Green Heat technical consultant Edward Antonio.

Furthermore, Antonio said in the advisory that Green Heat offers financial packages to make solar PV packages more affordable.

Green Heat also customizes the kind of system that will yield the best power output and make it compliant to Meralco’s net-metering program, the firm also said.