The Department of Energy (DOE) is set to conduct this year the second round of competitive selection process (CSP) for interested investors of microgrid services in the remaining unserved and underserved areas in the country.
A microgrid is the term used for a limited network of electricity users with a local source of supply that can function even if it is not connected to the national grid.
The DOE set deadline for bid submission in the second round of CSP for the Microgrid System Provider (MGSP) for the electrification of 41 lots, composed initially of 75 identified unserved and underserved areas of the country is on the fourth week of September.
Meanwhile, the call for interested bidders is scheduled on the first week of August. The submission of expression of interest and pre-qualification document is on the first week of August, while issuance of notice award is set by the first week of December.
The 75 identified areas covering a total of 12,212 households are part of the 98 identified areas clustered into 49 lots previously offered during the first round of the MGSP-CSP in November 2023, the DOE said.
These areas are viable for MGSP given their higher demand and most of the households are not widely dispersed, it added.
The DOE allows interested bidders to survey the offered areas in order to prepare their proposals.
The Microgrid Systems Act of 2022 mandates the conduct of a CSP before an MGSP can serve off-grid areas. It also sets a 90-day timeline to complete the conduct of CSP from the pre-qualification until the submission of the awarded contract to the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The DOE said the 2023 to 2032 National Total Electrification Roadmap has identified 407 areas, of which 285 are unserved comprising of 20,103 households, while 122 are underserved with a total of around 20,207 households.
During the first round of the MGSP-CSP, eight lots in the provinces of Cebu, Quezon and Palawan were awarded to the Maharlika Consortium composed of Maharlika Clean Power Holdings Corp., Singapore-based CleanGrid Partners Pte Ltd. and WEnergy Global Pte Ltd.
The consortium, as the first winning MGSP, will provide 24×7 electricity services to the said areas through a hybrid microgrid system composed of solar photovoltaic, energy storage system and diesel generator sets.
