Dept. of Energy - Rural Power Project

Project ACCESS (Accelerating Community Electricity Services Using Solar) is a component of the Rural Power Project (RPP) being implemented by the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) with support from the World Bank and Global Environment Facility.

This flagship program of the DOE aims to provide electricity to 100% of the barangays by 2008 and 90% of all households by 2017, toward improving the quality of life of rural folk by providing adequate, affordable, and reliable energy in partnership with the private sector. Providing electricity to rural communities with no access to electricity has been seen to stimulate economic activities, subsequently improving the lives of the people in these communities.

Project ACCESS uses the Sustainable Solar Market Packages (SSMP) approach in providing solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity to remote communities. SSMPs have two main areas of operation:

Recognizing that the scale of operation of a rural power project must be large enough to be sustainable, the SSMP approach utilizes a combination of innovative methods to attain optimum electrification targets, such as:

clustering of barangays into commercially viable SSMP packages;
a baseload for each SSMP package from public facilities, such as power needs of barangay halls, health facilities, schools, and street lights;
innovative subisidies to improve affordability of setting up a rural power project;
focus on after-sales services and continued marketing.

Public sector and donor resources will fund PV systems for public facilities that will benefit the whole community. Meanwhile, commercial sales to the private market will be supported by significant subsidy and financial assistance that are output-based. General rules about subsidies and financial assistance are:

SSMP contractors should pass on subsidies to end-users in form of discounts, incentives/rebates or other means approved by DOE;
Each household or establishment is entitled to only one government subsidy;
Installations that have been supported by grants from local and foreign sources will not be granted any subsidy or financial assistance;
PV products meeting technical standards will be eligible for subsidies/grants, subject to verification. A list of approved equipment is available at DOE-PMO;
System upgrades will not be qualified for any form of subsidy/grant.

A Market Development Support Facility also provides certain services for participating companies and eligible organizations. A company or organization may submit a proposal to DOE for any of the following:

cost-shared grants (maximum 50%) for specific activities such as training and technical assistance;
financial management, contract management, accounting, and auditing;
development of sales and after-sales networks;
product development and quality control;
marketing and business development activities (surveys, promotion, small demonstrations), and
industry accreditation and membership in an association.
Applicants for market development support will be evaluated by DOE.

The aggregate PV power requirements of public facilities are 2.6 kilowatt peak (kWp) to 11.9 kWp, with each facility requiring 110 kWp to 440 kWp of power. Power requirements of households and other establishments may total 70 kWp. Bidders for a project should list technical specifications of solar PV systems for the energy requirements of barangay public facilities, such as:

Barangay hall - lighting, public address/karaoke systems, computers, two-way radios, television, DVD players and small appliances;
Health center - communication, lighting, ventilation, small medical appliances
Primary/Elementary school - lighting, audiovisual equipment, small appliances
High school - lighting, audiovisual equipment, small appliances
Public lighting - street lights, path lighting, pier lighting, public areas and facilities

Companies that have been accredited as Participating Companies by DOE for the RPP can submit bids for the SSMP clusters. A company that has no acreditation yet may submit an application for accreditation and other requirements together with its bid for one or several SSMP clusters.

The tender process is competitive and bidding is open to all companies - foreign and domestic - that satisfy the eligibility criteria. Bids will be evaluated using pass/fail criteria. A company may bid for as many SSMP packages as its financial, technical, and organizationl capability can support.

Ten days after signing the contract, the winning bidder (contractor) must put up a performance guarantee equivalent to 30% of the contract sum. Ten days after installation, the contractor must provide a warranty worth 15% of the contract sum.