NPC seeks P29.8-B budget for next year
State-run National Power Corporation (NPC) is seeking P29.824 billion budget for next year, primarily to bankroll its targeted hybrid power system installations in various parts of the country as well as for fuel expenses.
Of the proposed allocation, gigantic P23.197 billion will be funneled to the company’s maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE); P3.868 billion will be earmarked for capital outlay; and P2.758 billion for personnel services.
The main expense items in NPC’s budget shall be for capacity addition that will include RE technology deployment and acquisition of generating sets; and, build-up of transmission lines as well as substations and teleprotection systems.
NPC will also be pursuing right-of-way (ROW) acquisitions for its electrification program, including those for its venture along the Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) domain.
The new areas cast for the continuing photovoltaic (PV) mainstreaming of the company are off-grid sites in Iniwaran in San Pascual, Masbate; Nocnocan, Talibon in Bohol; Catadman Island in Basilica of Dinagat Island; Tulayan Island in Sulu; and Kaulungan Island, Al Barka-Sangkahan and Lookbisaya in Basilan.
The others will be those in Gigantes Island in Iloilo; Balicasag and Cuaming Islands in Bohol; Sabtang and Itbayat Islands in Batanes; and Palumbanes Island in Catanduanes.
The power firm is taking a ‘paradigm shift’ on its business model as it ramps up the deployment of renewable energy (RE) hybrid technologies on the electrification of the country’s off-grid areas.
The firm has been prioritizing deployment of solar hybrid systems in difficult-to-access areas; or those with core end-users that are relatively paying exorbitant electricity rates and have less than 24-hours electricity service.
NPC said it has been accelerating the rollout of RE hybrid systems that are being coupled with diesel units, so it can improve energy access to end-users it has been servicing along SPUG areas.
Solar PV is a technology option that NPC has been turning to in the goal to finally provide electricity access to Filipinos denied of such service for the longest time.
Renewable energy technologies, including hybrid tech deployments – as well as the micro grids have been among the array of installations that the government has been exploring to bring power to the under-served and un-energized domains of the country.
It has been opined that the mainstreaming of RE technologies, chiefly solar PVs and solar home systems, could be a workable recourse for many off-grid areas in the Philippines.
Source : mb
