The Department of Energy (DOE) has directed all distribution utilities (DUs) to contract sufficient power capacity to ensure successful rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in various parts of the country this year.
In an official advisory issued by the energy department this week, power distribution firms have been mandated to “ensure enough contracted capacities for energy to address possible increase in demand requirements.”
DUs were similarly instructed to guarantee the existence and updating of emergency response protocols and business continuity plans (BCPs), so these will be “responsive to the prioritization of the Covid-19 vaccines cold storage facilities and healthcare facilities in cases of power outages.”
And if warranted, the privately owned DUs as well as the electric cooperatives (ECs) are also being required to provide back-up generating sets and/or undertake reconfiguration on their power distribution system primarily to address the need for cold storage facilities of some vaccines that will be used in the country’s inoculation program.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi reiterated “we have to make sure that there is continuous supply of electricity services,” emphasizing that “the DOE has been strategizing on how to pre-empt possible issues and concerns that may arise during the rollout.”
The target administration of the vaccines will be starting this first quarter, primarily with the priority sectors identified by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) of the government.
The energy chief further decreed that the DUs “have to be equipped and organized at all times so that plans for the implementation of the vaccination program will run smoothly.”
As an added measure, he likewise urged the power firms to “intensify vegetation management programs to eliminate or at least minimize power interruptions.”
The ECs in particular recently offered their facilities as ‘inoculation sites’; so even those in the far-flung areas could be given viable access to the Covid-19 vaccines. At the same time, they could efficiently address the power supply needs for the program.
The concretization of vaccines’ rollout is seen as the ultimate measure to push herd immunity for the Filipinos against coronavirus infections, which in turn, could precipitate the economy’s rebound and will prep the country’s gradual return to normalcy.