THE National Electrification Administration (NEA) announced on Thursday that it has entered into separate agreements with the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), and the University of the Philippines (UP).

"Through the partnership with PhilSA, this will allow NEA the use of satellite tech and data to identify the unserved and underserved to aid us in the implementation of the Accelerated Electrification Plan," said NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda.Almeda said that the agreement with UP will involve the development of the Grid Impact Studies database and rural electrification planning and monitoring system and will use satellite and other relevant data."It has been our objective not only to roll out photovoltaic mainstreaming system or solar home system, as we also wanted to verify and monitor matters because this will entail a lot of financial resources from the National Government," he said."Through these partnerships, we also want electrification to be efficiently and effectively rolled out to households in need of electricity, and this will allow the NEA to take a more modernized approach with its electrification program, thereby ensuring its methodic and proper implementation," he added.PhilSA Director General Joel Marciano Jr. welcomed this collaboration with the NEA as space capabilities are being used increasingly in the Philippines in a number of applications."Space science and tech applications, particularly images and data from satellites, are being harnessed to address challenges. We are honored to be a partner of NEA in the accelerated electrification plan," Marciano said."With these insights and data on hand, the NEA will be able to verify and monitor efforts to energize the country, achieving more cost efficiencies and coming toward the collective goal of 100 percent electrification and nobody being left behind," he added.