Distributed generation comes to the Philippines

Consumers can sell green electricity to the grid.

The Philippines has approved a program that will allow consumers who generate their own electric power to sell excess supplies back to the electric grid for a reasonable price.

The Energy Regulatory Commission, the government agency responsible for regulating the electric grid, recently approved a new interconnection standard that will enable net-metering of renewable energy for customers with distributed generation.

Consumers can generate up to 100 kilowatts of electricity from sources like solar, wind and biomass with equipment installed on their own premises. If they generate more than they can consume, they can sell the excess power supply back to their distribution utility company.

Under the new net metering rule, customers are only charged or credited for the difference between the electricity they purchase from the grid and the electricity they sell back to the grid.

ERC said the net-metering program will definitely change the electricity landscape. It will transform electricity users from just being recipients of electricity into generators, supplying not only their electricity requirements but also that of others through their distribution utilities’ system.