Philippines: Electric coop welcomes DOE's Green Energy Option Program

Philippines: Electric coop welcomes DOE's Green Energy Option Program

The Central Negros Electric Cooperative (CENECO), which caters to the
largest number of electric consumers in Negros Occidental, welcomed the
implementation of the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP) mainly to empower
end-users.

General manager Sulpicio Lagarde Jr. said on Monday that CENECO has already
been sourcing 20 megawatts (MW) from geothermal energy sources, but more
renewable energy (RE) sources are needed to support Negros Occidental's
objective of using clean energy.

"The program is very timely because we are about to end our 64 MW contract
with Kepco-Salcon Power Corp. by 2021 and we need an additional requirement
of about 20 MW," he said.

CENECO's coverage area includes the cities of Bacolod, Talisay, Silay, Bago,
and the municipalities of Murcia and Salvador Benedicto.

The Department of Energy (DOE), through the National Renewable Energy Board
(NREB), on Monday pushed for the implementation of the GEOP in a public
consultation led by NREB chairman Jose Layug Jr. at L'Fisher Hotel here.

The program will provide captive electricity consumers the option to choose
RE sources in meeting their energy requirements.

Layug said these end-users mainly include residential households with
consumption requirements of not more than 1 MW.

"Through this consultation, we are getting the pulse of all involved
stakeholders especially here in Negros Occidental which hosts most of the
solar farms in the country," he added.

"We want to make sure that consumers would be able to choose cleaner forms
of energy through GEOP," Layug also said.

The public consultation in Bacolod was attended by other DOE officials,
officials of distribution utilities and electric cooperatives, and other
power industry stakeholders in the Visayas. It was the first of the three
consultations scheduled nationwide.

Based on the draft department circular prescribing guidelines governing the
establishment of GEOP, the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) or its
concessionaire National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and entities
duly authorized to operate within economic zones are entitled to participate
in the program on top of power distributors and generators, ECs, and other
entities to be identified by the NREB.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Link to Original Article: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1008508

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com