Solar power gives CoA nearly P1M in savings

About five years since the installation of solar panels on the rooftop of its two-building offices in Quezon City, the Commission on Audit has reported close to a million pesos in energy savings.

The state audit agency, in partnership with the Philippine National Oil Company-Renewables Corporation, built solar rooftops in the offices in 2017.

“Five years after the installation of the solar panels, we are seeing the benefits in the savings generated. For January to September 2022 alone, we generated total savings of more than P800,000 for both buildings,” CoA chairman Gamaliel A. Cordoba said.

“We hope that more agencies will see the benefits and be encouraged to follow in our footsteps,” he added.

As a state agency that has registered for the net-metering program, CoA’s utilization of solar power is “to show support to the renewable energy drive of the government and to utilize alternative source of electricity at least cost,” Cordoba stressed.

The net-metering program allows solar owners with less than 100-kilowatt peak capacity to export their excess electricity to the grid in exchange for electricity bill credits.

From the one-way flow of electricity to a two-way flow of electricity, the system empowers consumers to become “prosumers,” with the ability to generate their own electricity for their consumption and export any excess generation to the distribution grid.

To further encourage the use of cleaner and cheaper energy, the government said it will expand the program to more areas, especially in far-flung provinces that are not yet connected to the grid.

According to Commissioner Catherine P. Maceda of the Energy Regulatory Commission, the program protects consumers from power price spikes.

“Why should we allow ourselves to be exposed to the vulnerabilities of higher fuel costs when we can generate power from our own resources? This was the resounding argument nearly 15 years ago, when the then Renewable Energy Bill was being deliberated in Congress. Those arguments still ring true, and more so now,” she said.

Based on ERC data, there are 7,583 qualified end-users in the net metering roll — 6,120 in Luzon, 1,168 in Visayas, and 295 in Mindanao.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF COA ENERGY Regulatory Commission commissioner Catherine P. Maceda (second from the left) awards the Certificates of Compliance to Commission On Audit chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba (second from right). With them are CoA commissioners Roland C. Pondoc (left) and Mario G. Lipana (right).