‘Challenge accepted’: NEA vows 100% sitio electrification by ’28

By Lenie Lectura @llectura

We are also as relentless in pursuing total electrification. Since my assumption into office, almost half a million homes have been given access to electricity. We will spare no effort to achieve full household electrification by the end of my term. One hundred percent is within our reach,” said President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. during his 2nd State of the Nation Address on Monday afternoon.

A s of end-2022, the total number of households energized reached 25,914,073, or an electrification level of 96.17 percent. There are still 870,232 households that need to be energized as of last year.

T he National Electrification Administration (NEA) has accepted this challenge and said that agency plans and programs will drive the country toward achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

Challenge accepted. By 2028, 100 percent electrification. My administration will always be anchored in the principle of good governance. I will make sure that the Sitio Electrification Program funds are utilized well,” NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda had said.

Earlier, NEA said it aims to electrify 1,085 sitios for the year 2023 under the Sitio Electrification Program (SEP). It has allocated P1.627 billion to energize 350 sitios in Luzon, 336 sitios in Visayas and 399 sitios in Mindanao this year, subject to evaluation and validation in accordance with the provisions of the 2023 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

For the past year, the President cited 17 power generation facilities that have been switched on across the country, substantially increasing the country’s energy production by 1,174 megawatts.

When it comes to energy, renewable energy [RE] is the way forward,” he said.

T he government is targeting to achieve a 35-percent RE share in the power mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

To accelerate the realization of this green energy goal, we have opened renewable energy projects to foreign investments,” he added.

Since last year, an additional 126 RE contracts with a potential capacity of 31,000 MW have been awarded.

A ccording to Tetchi Capellan, chairperson of the Philippine Solar and Storage Energy Alliance (PSSEA), the President has already identified the biggest stumbling block—transmission—to RE and energy security.

Removing this bottleneck and resolving the interconnection issues

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo @akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

require strict governance as the President already identified through performance audit. But above all, it demands huge investments on building the infrastructure.

Waiting is not an option for a country growing at 7 percent with an aspiration of 50 percent in its energy mix. We have to build lines and substations,” Capellan said.

The President said 60 grid connections are “much delayed” based on data provided by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). “We are conducting a performance review of our private concessionaire, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines. We look to NGCP to complete its deliverables starting with the vital Mindanao-Visayas, Cebu-Negros-Panay interconnections,” the Chief Executive said.

N GCP has yet to comment as of this writing.