ACEN: Bring green energy option to households
Renewable energy developer ACEN Corp. is hoping that the green energy option program (GEOP), which allows consumers to tap clean electricity, will reach household levels within the Marcos administration.
Speaking to reporters, ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia acknowledged the move of the Department of Energy (DOE) to lower the threshold for joining the program from 100 kilowatts (kW) to 50 kW.
However, this would “still not reach the household,” the official said.
“There are some, but your house would have to be like a mansion to reach 50 kilowatts. If you want households—especially lower-income ones—to benefit from renewables, it’s better to open the GEOP to all households,” he said.
Since its launch in December 2021, GEOP has allowed customers consuming an average peak demand of 100 kilowatts kW to source their power from renewable energy. But the DOE earlier said it would trim the minimum eligibility threshold to 50 kW.
The program also enables multiple end-users within a contiguous area to aggregate their electricity demand and negotiate for their clean power supply.
Francia said that while retail aggregation was “great,” this segment remained “a very difficult thing to pull off.”
“It’s very cumbersome,” he said.
The ACEN executive explained that to prove consumers have reached the threshold, the system requires the collection of three monthly bills. This provides additional work for retail providers, the system, distribution utilities and the spot market operator.
“So I think going straight to the household level will eliminate a lot of these extra steps,” he said.
