PHILIPPINES - NONCONVENTIONAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

TEN PILOT DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS WILL BE FINANCED UNDER THE LOAN PORTION TO TEST APPLICATIONS OF SOLAR, HYDRO, WIND, AND BIOMASS CONVERSION TO MEET ENERGY REQUIREMENTS FOR THE POOR. GRANT FUNDS WILL SUPPORT GOP STUDIES OF RURAL ENERGY REQUIREMENTS, EXPERIMENTS AND RESEARCH FACILITIES TRAINING, DISSEMINATION EFFORTS, AND CONSULTANT SERVICES. THE ACTIVITIES ASSIST THE INITIAL PHASE OF A PHILIPPINE EFFORT TO GET OTHER DONOR ASSISTANCE AND PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN THE UTILIZATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE FOR THE RURAL POOR. INITIALLY, PROTOTYPE UNITS WILL BENEFIT ONLY A SMALL NUMBER OF TARGET POPULATIONS. SUCH PILOT PROJECTS AS "MINI" AND "MICRO" HYDROELECTRIC GENERATION AND USE OF ENERGY PLANTATION AND WASTE BIOMASS FOR GENERATION ARE DESIGNED FOR SERVICE TO AREAS WHICH CANNOT BE SERVED BY MAJOR TECHNOLOGIES. SOLAR DRYERS, REFRIGERATION, AND PUMPING, AS WELL AS APPLICATIONS OF WIND POWER TO LOCAL NEEDS ARE ALSO DIRECTED TOWARD RURAL NEEDS. THE BUREAU OF ENERGY DEVELOPMENT (BED) OF THE PHILIPPINE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY WILL COORDINATE OVERALL ACTIVITIES. BED WILL SOLICIT TECHNICAL PROPOSALS FROM OTHER US GOVERNMENT AGENCIES FOR PILOT PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION. SHORT- AND LONG-TERM PARTICIPANT TRAINING AT RELEVANT U.S. INSTITUTIONS WILL IMPROVE GOP INSTITUTIONAL CAPABILITY TO CONDUCT INDEPENDENT RESEARCH. COUNTRY-WIDE SEMINARS AND AN INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONFERENCE WILL FACILITATE INFORMATION EXCHANGE AND DISSEMINATION. RESEARCH EQUIPMENT, BOOKS, AND TECHNICAL JOURNALS WILL BE PROCURED TO ESTABLISH A LIBRARY AND PERMANENT INFORMATION AND DISPLAY CENTER.