Filipino DoE Committee And Meralco to Develop ‘Smart Grid’ Plan

The Department of Energy has released a circular creating an inter-agency committee to develop a Smart Grid policy framework and roadmap for the power industry. The Smart Grid innovation applies information technology (IT) to electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure, computerizing the entire power grid from the suppliers’ end to the consumers’ end and automating the gathering of information to improve the production and distribution of electricity.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which has been advocating the use of Smart Grid technology, said that its use will allow customers better control of their consumption.

“Customers will be empowered because they will see their consumption at hourly intervals and thus take the actions needed to meet their budgets, or else reschedule activities to off peak hours for lower rates. Globally, the experience has resulted [in] savings of 5 to 15 percent,” Meralco senior vice president Alfredo Panlilio said earlier. The circular, signed by Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla, said that the policy formulation committee “shall propose the national strategy for the Smart Grid for the period until 2030 with major consideration on the possible impact [on] the price of electricity.”

The committee will be composed of members of the DoE and attached agencies such as the National Power Corp., the National Transmission Corp., the National Electrification Administration, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines and the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. However, it will also invite other government offices and private firms to assist in the development of the policy.

The committee will prepare the transition policies and guidelines for the effective implementation of the Smart Grid by power generation companies, transmission companies, distribution utilitizes and other network service providers. Meralco said it can also use Smart Grid to integrate its prepaid electricity service, the pilot technical testing of which it hopes to complete in Angono, Rizal, by the middle of the year