The Department of Energy DREAMS project, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, will help develop opportunities for renewable energy (RE) source to give light among the community members of off-grid municipalities in Palawan.
Five municipalities in Palawan were identified as project partners namely Aborlan, Balabac, Brooke’s Point, Cagayancillo and San Vicente, which will serve as model areas for RE development.
“We are focusing on small communities and households [na off-grid],” said Mr. Ricardo Torres, project manager of the DREAMS Project.
Mr. Torres added that DOE initial assessments in San Vicente shows potential mini-hydro, while discussions are underway for Cagayancillo to have solar energy, and in Brooke’s Point they already have an existing 400-kilowatt mini-hydro.
“Ang kailangan ngayon tingnan on how we could develop those resources,” Mr. Torres said.
He also added that participating municipalities should also assess their locality to identify potential renewable energy sources that could be of help in the planning stage as confirmed by.
“There is a need for detailed resources assessment and we hope that can be captured in the plan,” Mr. Torres said.
The project will open opportunities to investors to help in the project implementation.
Together with the Palawan Provincial Government and Palawan Electric Cooperative, the five-year DREAMS project that started in 2017 and would end in 2022, will bring electrification energy to the off-grid areas.
The DREAMS Palawan LREP Planning Workshop, which was held last March 19 – 22, 2019 at Best Western Plus The Ivywall Hotel aimed to provide additional knowledge and skills to capacitate the LGUs to pass local energy policies, prepare and implement local energy plans and programs, link LGUs to RE power developers, investors from the public and private sectors, and technical experts in the DOE, and assist in the review and updating of the Palawan Island Power Development Plan 2014-2035 to ensure that the updated plan integrates national laws, policies and department orders and other promulgations on RE in the country.
DREAMS project known as Development for Renewable Energy Applications Mainstreaming and Market Sustainability (DREAMS) is being initiated by the Department of Energy (DOE). Renewable Energy Management Bureau (REMB) implements all the components of the project.
A Project Steering Committee (PSC) was also created in the project to serve as a policy and decision-making body for the project implementation, which include the Department of Energy, Department of Internal and Local Government (DILG), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), National Transmission Commission (TRANSCO), National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), National Power Corporation (NPC), Philippine Electric Market Corporation (PEMC), and the local government of Iloilo and Palawan, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The project is co-financed with funding from the Global Environmental Fund(GEF) and UNDP, which acts as the GEF Executing Agency. Stakeholders and co-financers include also DOE, PEMC, LGUs and Private Sector Partners.
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