Rural electrification tracker debuting in 2024
The National Electrification Administration (NEA) is set to launch its digital command center next year in a bid to fast-track efforts to provide power to all households by the end of President Marcos’ term.
According to NEA, it will work with Benguet Electric Cooperative (Beneco) and Cebu III Electric Cooperative Inc. (Cebeco 3) for the first phase of the Digital Dashboard Command Center (DDCC) project.
Through the DDCC that they would develop with tech firm Cisco Philippines, NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda explained that they would be able to accurately map out areas without access to reliable power.
It is part of Cisco’s Ugnayan 2030 country digital acceleration program that aims to provide near-time data on the performance of electric cooperatives.
The NEA seeks to onboard 58 other electric cooperatives to the digital command center within 2024.
Beneco and Cebeco 3 were chosen for the pilot operations as these cooperatives already had their own digital dashboards in place.
The remaining 60 electric cooperatives would be part of the project’s final phase in 2025, Almeda said previously.
Once the electric cooperatives’ dashboards are connected to the main NEA system, a technical team will be able to remotely monitor service interruptions and other discrepancies within their respective service areas. This would allow faster response time, the agency said.
Almeda likewise noted that they would collaborate with the Department of Science and Technology to put up digital dashboard systems for other electric cooperatives that were not “financially capable” of doing so on their own. INQ
