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DEEP DIVE SESSION

DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES

September 17, 2021 | 9:30 – 11:30 AM

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) refers to renewable energy units or systems that are commonly located at houses or businesses to provide them with power. Another name for DER is “behind the meter” because the electricity is generated or managed ‘behind’ the electricity meter in the home or business.

DER is a faster, less expensive option to the construction of large, central power plants and high-voltage transmission lines. It provides the consumer with greater reliability, adequate power quality, and the possibility to participate in competitive electric power markets. DER also has the potential to mitigate overloaded transmission lines, control price fluctuations, strengthen energy security, and provide greater stability to the electricity grid.

As a company dedicated to the promotion of DER through roof-mounted solar PV systems, WeGen Philippines is taking the lead to organize the deep dive session on Distributed Energy Resources as a preparatory event of the Renewable Energy (RE) Congress and Exhibit 2021.

DEEP-DIVE SESSION OBJECTIVE AND DESIGN

The objective of the deep-dive session is to answer a basic question: What does it take to accelerate the adoption of DER in the Philippines?

There will be five presentations and speakers are given 25 minutes each for their presentations for a total of 100 minutes. The remaining 20 minutes of the two-hour session will be for an open forum.

The presentations will focus on the following areas: the Technology needed to accelerate DER deployment, how to attract DER Financing from the financial market, and what are the enabling policies as seen from the eyes of renewable energy developers and customers. A case study will be presented on how a distribution utility has transf

SPEAKERS AND TOPICS

TOPIC 1
Technology to Transform the Electricity Industry Structure into DER

This session will look at the latest advances in microinverter and storage technology which could be used to deploy at scale Distributed Energy Resources for residential and commercial applications and which can be easily adopted by the consumers. We will also look at how this technology would disrupt or integrate with the current grid structure of the energy industry.

MR. RAGHU BELUR

Co-Founder and Chief Products Officer Enphase Energy, USA

Raghu Belur co-founded Enphase Energy with Martin Fornage in 2006. He has more than 25 years of experience in the clean energy and high technology industries, and has been at the forefront of developing Enphase’s leading integrated energy system—with solar generation, storage, monitoring, and control. Prior to Enphase, Raghu developed high-speed optical communication technology for Cerent, which was later acquired by Cisco Systems. Before Cerent, Raghu was an engineer at the Indian Institute of Science, where he played a key role in the development of an alternative energy gasification system.

Raghu has an MSEE from Texas A&M University and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley.

TOPIC 2
Making DER Financing Attractive to Investors

This session will focus on how to attract DER Financing from the financial market and global companies. For the most part, renewable energy financing tends to support large utility-scale projects. However, DER projects tend to be small and scattered. What would attract investors and financiers to support DER projects? Is there a need to consolidate DER installations so that they could attain a certain scale which would be attractive to investors?

MR. KARTIKEYA SINGH

Senior Project Development Manager (Asia Pacific) Jinko Power Technology Co., Ltd. China

Founded in 2011, JinkoPower is a well-known global IPP that develops, builds, finances, owns and operates solar power plants. It strives to make solar the most sustainable and competitive source of energy worldwide. As of December, 2018, the Company has owned and connected about 3.09 GW of solar projects. It also manages a large international portfolio of assets and developing a global pipeline of more than 7,000 MW of projects in key markets including China, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

Mr. Singh is experienced in debt and equity capital raising for infrastructure projects and project finance. He is a graduate of the Indian School of Business with a degree of Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Business Administration and Management. He also holds a Civil Engineering Degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.

TOPIC 3
Enabling Policies to Promote DER in the Philippines: Developers’ Perspective

This session will look at the issue of policy from the perspective of renewable energy developers and the customers of renewable energy including the small rooftop installations. What constraints are they facing? What policies should be in place so that DER could be implemented quickly and at scale in the country? What kind of support should be extended to the developers and the customers?

ATTY. JOSE LAYUG, JR.

President, Developers of Renewable Energy for AdvanceMent, Inc. (DREAM)
Senior Partner, Puno and Puno Law

Atty. Jay Layug, Jr. is a former Undersecretary of the Department of Energy and Chairman of the National Renewable Energy Board from 2017 – 2019. He is an advocate of renewable energy and currently the President of DREAM where he was quoted as saying: “We at DREAM advocate the use of Renewable Energy in the Philippines as a default policy. No ifs, no buts, no hesitation. We do it now.” He is also currently the Dean of the University of Makati School of Law and a Professorial Lecturer of the University of the Philippines College of Law.

He finished his Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1996 and Master of Laws at Cornell University, USA in 2001.

TOPIC 4
Transforming Distribution Utilities Under a DER System

Very often, local distribution utilities would look at DER as a threat to their business. This session will look at the case of Romblon Electric Cooperative which has installed a 200 kWp solar PV system in four barangays which serves as their test-bed for the bigger distributed solar power plant. The speaker will share the experience of ROMELCO and lessons learned on what things are needed for them and other electric cooperatives to fully benefit from DER.

Engr. Rene Fajilagutan

General Manager, Romblon Electric Cooperative

Engr. Rene Fajilagutan has led ROMELCO to become a trendsetter and the most innovative among the electric cooperatives in the Philippines particularly in the adoption of renewable energy. He is also the President of the Association of Isolated Electric Cooperatives Inc. (AIEC). During his presentation at the Asian Development Bank’s Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) last Thursday, 18 June 2020, he displayed the ingenuity and innovativeness of the rural electrification sector, specifically, the off-grid electric cooperatives, by mitigating the unprecedented disruption of the supply chain in the power industry brought about by the global pandemic.

Q&A Session

MR. BEN KRITZ

Moderator:
Columnist, The Manila Times

Ben describes himself in his FB page as off-and-on columnist, economic analyst, consultant, erstwhile editor and teacher, social development and environmental advocate, champion of reason and common sense, accidental fashionista, novice photographer, expert driver, talented carpenter, skilled mechanic, crappy golfer, brutal fixer, firestarter, lightning rod, and choke point. He regularly writes thought-provoking articles on renewable energy and the electricity industry. Before his second career in journalism, Ben was with BMW (N. America & AG) for 17 years, primarily in logistics and aftersales operations. Besides the environmental issues, which are dear to him, he fully understands just-in-time systems which could be applied to distributed energy resources.

Ben describes himself in his FB page as off-and-on columnist, economic analyst, consultant, erstwhile editor and teacher, social develThis makes Ben the best fit to moderate this session where we need to challenge conventional thinking on the structure of the electricity industry.