Poe: Rooftop solar technology to cut electric bills

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate committee on energy is  scrutinizing the proposal for the use of rooftop solar technology to cut the cost of electric bills of households and business establishments.

Sen. Grace Poe initiated the filing of Senate Bill 1719 promoting the adoption of rooftop solar technology among residential, commercial, industrial and government end-users.

“Rooftop solar is an emerging technology which the government should look into especially as it’s becoming cheaper by the day,” Poe said.

Poe said the measure is also aimed at addressing institutional barriers to its adoption and support the development of rooftop solar energy in the country.

She noted that the bill also seeks to mandate all government agencies to install solar energy system in their respective offices and building to supply at least five percent of electricity requirements and which shall increase by five percent every five years.

Poe noted claims made in 2014 by former energy secretary Jericho Petilla on electricity from solar panels directly installed on one’s rooftop costs only P9 per kilowatt-hour compared to power sourced from coal plant at P12 per kilowatt-hour.

“Unlike other power plants, whether fossil-based, hydro, wind or solar farms, rooftop solar does not require land conversions because it uses what is usually an underutilized and already existing resource – the roof,” she said.

“Complete solar photovoltaic systems or solar technology can be bought off-the-shelf and could be easily installed in a few hours. Larger systems may take a few days. No other technology, renewable or otherwise, could match the convenient installation attributed to rooftop solar,” Poe added.

As early as 2008, policy innovations such as net-metering system were already introduced under RA 9513, otherwise known as the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, supporting the development of rooftop solar.