Up for grabs: New microgrid power deal spanning 75 areas
Seventy-five unserved areas in the country may soon get their electricity supply as the Department of Energy (DOE) is set to hold another bidding for the delivery of power through microgrid systems.
In a statement on Saturday, the DOE said the second round of the competitive selection process (CSP) for microgrid system providers would happen this year.
The agency will welcome submission of expression of interest and pre-qualification by the last week of August. Submission and opening of technical and financial bid proposals, meanwhile, will happen in the last week of September.
The DOE targets to grant the award in early December.
For this round, the winning bidder would be authorized to electrify 75 identified areas, covering more than 12,000 households. The DOE has yet to respond when asked for specific provinces.
During the first bidding, only one consortium—the Maharlika Consortium—pursued the project. There were eight other entities that were pre-qualified to participate.
The consortium is composed of homegrown Maharlika Clean Power Holdings Corp. and Singapore-based firms CleanGrid Partners Pte Ltd. and WEnergy Global Pte Ltd. It secured the deal to provide 24/7 power to eight unserved areas in Cebu, Quezon, Palawan.
The DOE said the group would build and operate a hybrid microgrid system composed of a solar photovoltaic, energy storage system and a diesel generator set.
The Microgrid Systems Act of 2022 mandates the conduct of a CSP before a microgrid operator can serve off-grid areas.
The 2023-2032 National Total Electrification Roadmap has identified 407 areas, of which 285 are unserved, with 20,103 households. A total of 122 areas have also been considered as underserved with around 20,207 households.
“These far-flung or remote areas have the presence of economic activities that require the much-needed electricity services,” the DOE said.
