Solar micro grid

Both houses of Congress have approved an important legislative proposal granting a franchise to Solar Para Sa Bayan to put up solar micro grids in remote and unserved or underserved areas in selected provinces.

The proposal was opposed by a number of vested interests, most specially electric cooperatives that have consistently underperformed through many decades.

But the proposal is a game changer. For one thing, solar power is a fast growing new technology worldwide. Granting the franchise will also provide long suffering remote areas access to affordable electricity.

Sen. Loren Legarda had been accused of using her political clout to get the bill passed because the proponent, Leandro Legarda Leviste, is her son. But that is irrelevant. Indeed, the electric coops also used their political clout through their party list representation in Congress to stop the bill, but they lost.

 Sen. Ping Lacson said there is no use for this bill. But the senator is wrong. The 25-year old Lean sought the franchise because his attempts to serve off grid areas have been hampered by long entrenched electric coops. He needs authority to serve far-flung communities.

Lean initially sought the cooperation of coops to serve areas the coops don’t have the resources to serve and are not planning to serve soon. But the coops insisted on protecting their areas even those they are unable to serve. Such greed!

In her final speech in support of the bill, Senate public services committee chair Grace Poe said, “This is a social justice legislation to electrify the countryside, to allow the operations of solar technology and microgrids in remote, unviable, unserved, and underserved areas.”

Most importantly, Solar Para sa Bayan will get no subsidy. It is the coops that are benefiting from subsidies to so called “missionary” areas.

It is interesting to note that operations of electric cooperatives are subsidized by NPC to the tune of approximately P20 billion a year. 

Lean’s Solar Para sa Bayan will not enjoy the atrocious feed-in-tariff (FiT) that other solar energy providers get. We all pay for that FiT in our electricity bills.

Indeed, I see inefficient provincial electric coops as the target of the franchise, not the efficient ones. Lean is ready to work with efficient distribution utilities like Meralco whose areas include places that are considered off grid.

As one congressman told me, “we have to make way for innovation because we cannot protect inefficient industries forever. Coops are just making their officers rich at the expense of the poor. That is very clear from my experience. That is what is driving my passion… bringing renewable micro grid power to our islands which power coops have abandoned.”

The legislator also observed that the franchise will be highly regulated. Rates will still be determined by the ERC. DOE must clear where solar can enter in underserved communities in 18 provinces.

“Finally, the total power requirement we are talking about is not even three percent of national power requirement. Imagine that! What are they complaining about? Solar Para Sa Bayan will cover just three percent of national demand when they clearly have no intention of serving those poor communities anyway.

“Sobra na sila. The people are suffering. The poor are being price gouged every day. From food to shelter to water to power .... the poor are really suffering.”

A recent Pulse Asia survey showed 82 percent of Filipinos want new options for electricity. The Department of Energy estimates that over 12 million Filipino households still remain without electricity, and many more experience frequent blackouts due to poor services in rural areas.

Solar Para Sa Bayan was founded in 2017. It has operations in Occidental Mindoro, Palawan, Masbate, Aurora, Cagayan, Bohol, Davao Oriental, and Misamis Occidental, bringing 24/7 power for the first time to communities with over 200,000 Filipinos. This is the first time a private company has energized this many households with zero government subsidy and using renewable energy.

In its test project in Paluan in Mindoro Occidental, the residents prior to Solar Para sa Bayan’s entry were paying the coop a subsidized cost of P15/kWh, with the true cost at over P20/kWh. They had average power interruptions of six to eight hours a day (sometimes stretching multiple days). The coop has virtually abandoned the town because it was expensive to service it.

Now with Solar Para sa Bayan, it has become the first fully off-grid town in the country with the largest solar-battery micro grid in Southeast Asia. Most of the residents are consuming less than 40 kwh at P8/kph. Those consuming more pay P11.85/kwh, still less than the coop’s already subsidized rate.

There are other towns that Solar Para sa Bayan will help get reliable solar power: Claveria in Masbate, Dumaran in Palawan, Lubang Island, Dingalan in Aurora, Calayan in Cagayan, Gov Generoso in Davao Oriental, Tangub in Misamis Occidental, Bilang Bilangan Island and Hingutanan in Bohol and Sibaltan near El Nido.

 Over 20 municipalities have issued resolutions for the entry of Solar Para sa Bayan.

In opposing Leviste’s franchise, the coops say they deserve a natural monopoly in their areas to bring down costs. They have enjoyed that monopoly for decades, but their  costs remain high and people are badly served.

Besides, it has been shown abroad that power mini grids can more efficiently provide the needs of isolated towns using renewable energy like solar and wind. It may even be that the days of centralized power grids are coming to a close as mini grids take over.

Hopefully, the President signs this ground breaking franchise into law. It would show the President is serious in cutting down entrenched non performing monopolies.

Instead of opposing Leviste’s franchise, the coops should just drastically improve the quality of coop management. Otherwise, new technology like solar and daring young entrepreneurs like Lean will pick up from their failures to the relief of people they are neglected all these years.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco