The Philippines has secured funding from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) for a project to promote energy resiliency in the region, an official of the Department of Energy (DOE) said.
Loreta Ayson told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine Economic Briefing that she had signed the acceptance papers for the project called “Workshop on Improving Energy Resiliency in Off-Grid Areas in Apec Member Economies” and the DOE was awaiting the release of funds from Apec.
The Philippines is the main proponent of the project, supported by fellow Apec economies Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and the United States.
The Apec Energy Efficiency sub-fund will provide the $100,070 to finance the project, she said.
“We’re awaiting the release of the funds because ideally, the project should be done by end of June 2016, before the new president takes over,” Ayson said. “The objective is to do some workshops, putting in all the experts with regards on energy resiliency, including the infrastructure, and then we will want to do a handbook on the guidelines on how to attain energy resiliency in off-grid areas of participating economies. This will take up standards of infrastructure, retrofitting of poor quality infrastructure, and engineering solutions, to withstand the strongest calamities.”
The project entails conducting a series of workshops among Apec member-economies to identify and address common challenges, lessons learned and best practices in improving resiliency of energy infrastructure in off-grid areas given the threats of natural disasters and the impacts of climate change.
These areas are so remote that connection to the main grid is not an immediate option. Electricity in these areas is mainly sourced from diesel generators putting the supply at risk in times of energy disruptions.
Renewable energy resources such as solar, wind and hydro power provide alternative off-grid solutions.
According to the Apec project monitoring site, reliable and timely information on short and long term response mechanisms will be developed through the project, ensuring the safe and immediate restoration of these energy facilities.
Experts in this field will provide guidance during the workshops and case studies from relevant member economies on actual experiences will be highlighted.