The Renewable Energy Association of the Philippines said mini-grid power systems can accelerate household electrification in the country.
Erel Narida, REAP president, said the mini-grid system would play an important role in ensuring and accelerating the total electrification of the country. “Being an archipelagic country, centralized power generation can be challenging if not costly,” said Narida.
Narida said mini-grid systems such as that of Sabang Renewable Energy Corp. would be a suitable solution for electrification for around 2.78 million households with no power as of December 2017, according to data from the Energy Department.
He said most of these unelectrified households are located in the Visayas and Mindanao, mostly small islands, either under-served using expensive diesel genset with limited operating or totally un-served.
SREC’s hybrid mini-grid project is located in Sitio Sabang in Barangay Cabayugan, where the Puerto Princesa Subterranean National Park is located.
SREC is a consortium of Vivant Energy Corp., Gigawatt Power Inc. and WEnergy Global. SREC will operate a hybrid power plant”•combining solar panels and diesel engines”•and an electricity distribution system to provide stable and reliable renewable energy.