Smart grid: Game-changer of the Philippine energy system

Published on Friday, 01 March 2013 09:06  By Catherine Dominguez

Smart grid technology is the way forward to perk up the Philippines’ energy system, according to a top official from Manila Electric Company, the country’s largest electrical power distributor.

In a talk during the Power and Electricity Philippines conference on Wednesday, Jose Antonio Valdez, Meralco’s Vice President and Head of Marketing and Customer Solutions and Innovations, said smart grid is a “game-changer” in the Philippines’ energy sector, benefitting every Filipino household with better grid performance and leading the growth of local industries in the country.

“Smart grid has value to everyone….It attracts investments, creates jobs and with diversified energy sources, we have a more secure supply, more importantly, a sustainable supply,” noted Mr. Valdez.

Meralco is the Metro Manila’s only electric power distributor and has the power distribution franchise for about 22 cities and 89 municipalities across the Philippines, including the entire Metro Manila and Mega Manila region.

Imperative for the Philippines
According to Mr. Valdez, using smart grid technologies is not an option but rather a necessity for the Philippines given that electricity costs are high. It is ranked the second highest in Asia and ninth highest in the world.

Studies revealed that electricity price are expensive because electricity production relies heavily on fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which prices are based on international standards.

Mr. Valdez said Meralco is recognizing the need to address these concerns and smart grid is the smartest solution. “Meralco’s innovation efforts are most directed levelling up customer service, building up intelligence and its distributing network, and making power more affordable.”

“Smart grid will enable the use of smart meters which would open up a number of possibilities for our consumers.” These include three advancements - prepaid retail electricity service, home energy management system as well electric vehicle charging stations.

Three key advancements
The prepaid retail electricity service aims to address demand among Meralco’s low energy consuming households, or those who spend an average of around 1,500 to 3,000 pesos per month.

Mr. Valdez likened the P.R.E.S. functionality to a mobile phone prepaid service experienced by 99 percent of Filipinos. Customers choose the denomination of the amount to be loaded and the retailer loads up the chosen denomination. The retailer and the customer then both received a confirmation message.
Currently, P.R.E.S. is undergoing a test in 40,000 households across the country.
“From there, we move to quickly explode this and we see every reason why our 5 million customers will want a smart meter. Based on research within last year, our customers agreed,” said Mr. Valdez.
Home energy management system, on the other hand, would bring home automation that will allow out of home control of the appliances be part of one’s everyday lifestyle.
Mr. Valdez said consumer can either turn off or on appliances even away from home. In addition, they can see their consumption data at time intervals and on demand, allowing them to monitor and control their use.
“More than switching it off, [the consumer] gets a good idea of what is happening in his household and to a certain stance, do parenting. He would know if the children indeed do their homework after school - one, when the P.C. is on and whether they are watching T.V. or not,” said Mr. Valdez stressing that home energy management system also provides social benefits.

Finally, Meralco noted that it envisions mainstreaming environmentally friendly electric vehicles in the near future.
While the technology has been developed two decades ago, it was only in 2012 when the Philippines started adopting it with the Asian Development Bank investment in 100,000 electric tricycles to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Meralco is supporting the initiative by providing charging stations, and it is also looking at the possibility of manufacturing electric public utility vehicles, tricycles and jeepneys.

Time to join the move
Mr. Valdez said both the art and science of smart grid technology is fast-gaining attraction among utilities worldwide. Now, it is about time that the Philippines to take advantage of the opportunities provided by this technology.
“We want to keep up with technologies around the world and we will embark on a smart grid journey,” said Mr. Valdez noting that Meralco took benchmark of this journey from smart grid implementation globally and find out how these could be applied to the Philippines.
Above all, Mr. Valdez said taking up a smart grid path would not only call for an enlightened utility but similarly an enlightened and multi-creative government.
Meralco needs to collaborate with the Department of Energy for the policies and with the Energy Regulatory Commission for the costs of covering.
“With Meralco, government and more other stakeholders in the step, we leap towards a brighter tomorrow for the Philippines,” concluded Mr. Valdez.

The Power and Electricity Philippines is a two-day conference held on February 27 to 28 at InterContinental Manila, Makati. It brought together government representatives, private sectors and industry leaders.

The event, a first-of-its-kind, aimed at tackling new investment opportunities across the Philippine energy industry.

“Smart grid” generally refers to a class of technology people are using to bring utility electricity delivery systems into the 21st century, using computer-based remote control and automation. These systems are made possible by two-way communication technology and computer processing that has been used for decades in other industries. They are beginning to be used on electricity networks, from the power plants and wind farms all the way to the consumers of electricity in homes and businesses. They offer many benefits to utilities and consumers -- mostly seen in big improvements in energy efficiency on the electricity grid and in the energy users’ homes and offices.

For a century, utility companies have had to send workers out to gather much of the data needed to provide electricity. The workers read meters, look for broken equipment and measure voltage, for example. Most of the devices utilities use to deliver electricity have yet to be automated and computerized. Now, many options and products are being made available to the electricity industry to modernize it.

The “grid” amounts to the networks that carry electricity from the plants where it is generated to consumers. The grid includes wires, substations, transformers, switches and much more.

Much in the way that a “smart” phone these days means a phone with a computer in it, smart grid means “computerizing” the electric utility grid. It includes adding two-way digital communication technology to devices associated with the grid. Each device on the network can be given sensors to gather data (power meters, voltage sensors, fault detectors, etc.), plus two-way digital communication between the device in the field and the utility’s network operations center. A key feature of the smart grid is automation technology that lets the utility adjust and control each individual device or millions of devices from a central location.

The number of applications that can be used on the smart grid once the data communications technology is deployed is growing as fast as inventive companies can create and produce them. Benefits include enhanced cyber-security, handling sources of electricity like wind and solar power and even integrating electric vehicles onto the grid. The companies making smart grid technology or offering such services include technology giants, established communication firms and even brand new technology firms.

ON: MARCH 18, 2013
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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, computer…

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 utilitiess 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. — BM, GMA News

Posted on 2012-06-14 by Alex B.

As a probable way of gaining more information from renewable energy experts, the Philippines’ Department of Energy (DOE) has made its intentions known on seeking help from various agencies, particularly those from the United States and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Jose M. Layug Jr., the DOE’s undersecretary, said that his department would get in touch with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to help figure out the best ways to make use of the various renewable energy sources that the country has to offer.

The DOE’s decision of including the ADB for assistance is for pointing out viable wind energy sites in the Philippines. To note, the ADB has made a sturdy wherein the Philippines has a vast potential of tapping into wind power. On the other hand, USAID’s resources and expertise can help the DOE in the identification of biomass sites and projects in the country.

Layug stressed the fact that data is an important mechanism in moving things forward for the Philippines. By gaining the assistance of expert organizations, the country may soon experience a cleaner and affordable means of sourcing out power.

DOE looks forward to US Assistance

MANILA, Philippines – 22 Aug, 2012 – Manila Electric Company (Meralco), the Philippines' largest distributor of electrical power, and Cisco are collaborating on a holistic approach to providing reliable computing and networking infrastructure as a foundation for operations on a smart grid.

Investing in enterprise computing and smart grids will enhance automation and intelligence at critical points within the Meralco network, which will enable the company to achieve higher efficiency in utility operations and deliver better services to customers.

"Legacy grid infrastructure, rising power generation costs and emerging technologies are driving the company to pursue a new and more intelligent distribution network. We needed an IT infrastructure that is robust, flexible, and highly secure yet cost-effective.   In an industry made even more challenging with deregulation, we remain committed to the interests of our stakeholders:  to provide our customers with the best value in energy, products and services and at the same time to run the business (for our investors) effectively and efficiently," said Marthyn Cuan, Meralco's vice president and chief information officer, who concurrently spearheads the company's business process and systems transformation.

With decades of innovation in power distribution, the 109-year-old Meralco is again leading the way for utility companies in the region by using technology to develop a future-ready energy company for the Philippines.

At the core of the smart grid transformation is the use of intelligent communication networks as the platform that enables grid instrumentation, analysis, and control of utility operations from power generation to trading, to transmission and distribution, and to retail.

"The past 18 months have been fantastic for Meralco. We saw record energy volume growth and we have passed our 5 millionth customer.  As our customer base increases, the corresponding demands for quality power and services necessitate that we improve current capabilities. We are collaborating with Cisco, given their heritage in transformative technology, and having been consistently recognized in the IT industry as a leader in networking technology with a broad line of innovative products. Most importantly, they approached us from a solutions perspective," continued Cuan.

"We are excited to collaborate with innovative industry leaders like Meralco, who are pioneering the way energy utilities are driving new service models. Cisco is in a unique position to help lead energy organizations make the transformation to smart grids. From a technology standpoint, our Connected Grid portfolio includes industry-leading networking equipment, computing platforms, integrated software services and professional services that cover the spectrum of functional requirements for a scalable, reliable and highly secure smart grid. The products span the different segments of the grid from the generation facility infrastructure to the data center to the smart meters, creating a true end-to-end, converged and interoperable solution," said Stephen Misa, managing director for Cisco in the Philippines.


To read more click http://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=996559

Manila Bulletin – Wed, Aug 28, 2013

WASHINGTON DC - As blackout-inducing ''reliability problems'' escalate as a dilemma for electricity networks, markets which have been moving headway into their smart grid ambitions are turning to the more sophisticated ''synchrophasor technologies'' to aid them in quicker detection of system stress and to lead them into ''troubleshooting'' probable service disruptions.

In the United States, its Department of Energy (DOE) has provided initial funding of $4.5 billion for smart grid demonstration projects which will be deploying synchrophasor technologies to collect time-stamped data at a faster pace, which in turn, could reveal real-time power system conditions. It is basically instituting higher level of intelligence into ''data gathering'' primarily those affecting the operations of power grids.

The technology is also seen as the next big thing in managing renewable energy integration into power systems as well as in the systematized procurement of a grid's ancillary services needs.

Once the technology reaches commercial scale deployment, it was emphasized that it can also be scalable in other jurisdictions, including the power systems of developing countries.

Synchrophasor technologies typically use monitoring devices, or what is referred to as ''phasor measurement units'' (PMUs) to measure instantaneously the voltage, current and frequency at specific locations in a power grid.

Compared to conventional monitoring technologies which report only after every two to six seconds, it was explained that a synchrophasor technology does it at a rate of 30 or more per second.

From the PMUs, it was explained that the synchrophasor data streams ''are sent through a communications network to phasor data concentrators (PDCs), which collect, time-align and quality-check the data before sending them on for use in advanced applications software.''

The Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) was among the grid operators which embraced synchrophasor technology integration into its system. So far, it noted that the data gathered by PMUs across its hundreds of installed devices, allowed it to ''better detect, diagnose and prevent system disruptions.''

According to MISO executive vice president of operations and corporate services Richard Doying, the synchrophasor devices ''extended our ability to see ongoing system conditions, providing assurance that consumers are benefiting from improved reliability and predictability.''

He added that ''synchrophasor technologies provide us with unprecedented data on situations that could radically affect reliability.''
US-DOE's assistant secretary of energy Patricia Hoffman has emphasized that the MISO's demonstration program ''exceeded our expectations in the deployment and application of synchrophasor technologies and managing grid conditions,'' which has been very much aligned with the department's vision of the modernizing America's electric power grid.

The other regional transmission operators in the US which have opted for PMUs and PDCs installation are the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) interconnection; New York Independent System Operator, ISO-New England; and American Transmission Company, among others.

On reliability improvements, synchrophasors can help grid operators ''reduce frequency, duration and extent of outages, and their impacts on customers.'' It will similarly enable them to undertake ''faster restoration of outages,'' thereby, reducing cost to utilities.

The technology also allows system operators to gain ''economic improvements'' through reduced operations and maintenance as well as energy and ancillary services costs; and could let them generate cost savings from improved asset utilization and operational efficiency. These are made possible because synchrophasor technologies ''can provide more precise determination of system limits, such as higher resolution of voltages, currents and frequency - enabling operations to be closer to those limits.''

On the integration of renewable energy and distributed energy resources, synchrophasor technologies are essential in improving ''monitoring of grid system behavior that can be affected by generation using renewable energy sources.''

Quick Take: In areas such as cellular service, Internet access and microgrids, select regions in the developing world are leapfrogging the developed world. A new project in the Philippines is an example not of leapfrogging to a new technology but to a new business model. As we've seen in the United States, technology typically outpaces the business models to support it. To achieve rapid progress, you must evolve your business models.
 
Rooftop solar and net metering are becoming a major challenge to many utilities http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Business_Policy_Regulation/Net-metering-fracas-heats-up-in-Arizona-6121.html#.Um1SQxDwB3w  in the developed world. I've long believed those utilities should be asking their regulators for permission to experiment with new business models. Perhaps this example from the Philippines has some ideas worth borrowing. - By Jesse Berst
 
According to E27.com http://e27.co/2013/10/25/tiny-pipes-project-to-power-off-the-grid-households-in-the-philippines/ , a social entrepreneur hopes to build the world’s biggest pre-paid solar energy network.
 
The average Filipino household spends 12% of its income on electricity, compared to 2-3% in North America and Europe. About 1/3 of the population is NOT connected to the grid. Many residents on the smaller of the nation's 7,100 islands use batteries to power basic appliances (light bulbs, tiny refrigerators).
 
Social entrepreneur Alex Hornstein plans to install 60-watt solar panels on rooftops. The innovation: The panels will be connected to the cellular network. Families can then pay to recharge their batteries through the solar panels. Hornstein says his ambition is to use the networked panels to "create the biggest grid in the world."
 
Jesse Berst is the founder and Chief Analyst of SGN and Chairman of the Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition.