The passage of the Microgrid Systems Act or Republic Act No. 11646 is expected to hasten the electrification of all households and communities in various parts of the country.
Electrification is a government goal that had been very tough to accomplish across decades but with the deployment of microgrid systems, the energization of far-flung and off-grid areas can be accelerated because previous constraints like investment flow in these so-called “less viable areas” can also be addressed by the Microgrid Law.
According to Senate Committee on Energy Chairman Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who is also the principal author of the law, this edict will allow the microgrid system providers (MSPs) “to operate in any area in the country” and will remove the barrier of physical entry that had shackled capital flow in many off-grid and remote areas through the years.
As an initial step then, the lawmaker is again calling on the Department of Energy (DOE) “to declare the unserved and underserved areas for electrification and service by prospective MSPs and pave the way for the entry of private sector-accredited MSPs.”
Through the law, Gatchalian pointed out that the prospective microgrid investors will no longer need “to obtain waivers from incumbent distribution utilities.”
Under the set-up prior to the enactment of RA 11646, a third party provider can only break into an area for electrification venture if the franchised power utility will formally issue a waiver, which entails that it is already permitting another investor to electricity that specified jurisdiction.
As defined in the law, considered as “unserved areas” are those with no electricity access while the “underserved areas” would refer to the domains of which electricity service is less than 24 hours on a daily basis.
“By employing other technologies to provide reliable electricity service ... the process of electrification can now be expedited,” the chair of the Senate energy committee has noted.
With the deployment of microgrid systems, it was expounded that off-grid and far-flung areas can now be energized with more innovative technologies. This will include small-scale power generation facilities or decentralized power generation systems, batteries, or renewable energy technologies like solar and wind farm installations.
A microgrid system is a “decentralized source of energy or power load” that is normally operated through connected and synchronous power systems, but can also viably operate or can function autonomously as an island mode even if it is disconnected from interconnected power grids.
The establishment of microgrid system, in particular, is seen “well-suited to electrify unserved and under-served areas in the absence of main grid connection or insufficiency of supply due to specific reasons related to quality of service.”
With the newly passed law, Gatchalian opined that red tape or the circuitous layers of bureaucracy can be minimized. Hence, he said, there will be a great chance that private investors will be finally enticed to enter the areas-on-offer.