DOE partners with USAID to develop Energy Resiliency Scorecard for climate resilience

The Department of Energy (DOE) has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop the Energy Resiliency Scorecard (ERS) for climate resilience in the country’s energy sector.

The ERS was done in collaboration with the DOE’s Task Force on Energy Resiliency (TFER) and the USAID-Energy Secure Philippines.

In a news release on Wednesday, the DOE said the initiative aims to strengthen energy systems and climate resilience across the sector by providing a standardized benchmark for measuring energy resilience.

As a self-assessment tool designed to evaluate energy facilities' readiness to prepare for, withstand, and recover from natural or human-induced disruptions, the ERS assesses energy resilience across
seven critical pillars — infrastructure strengthening, systems, disaster risk financing and insurance, stockpiling, response, rehabilitation, and cyber resilience.

The DOE added that the ERS also offers benchmarking against both local and international resilience standards, drawing inspiration from models such as the DOE’s Resiliency Compliance Plan (RCP), which emphasizes preparedness before, during and after disruptive events.

"With the ERS, energy facilities can determine their current resilience levels and identify areas for improvement by applying scores to standardized criteria and indices,” Energy Undersecretary Wimpy Fuentebella said at a virtual press briefing.

“This tool helps facilities identify strengths, pinpoint gaps, and prioritize improvements to achieve greater energy resilience,” Fuentebella said.

The DOE said the implementation of the ERS began with a pilot test involving nine distribution utilities and generation and transmission facilities in Leyte. 

Results of the pilot test showed varying levels of resilience, with some participants achieving an "Advanced" rating while others were at "Intermediate" levels. 

The pilot was later expanded to include Regions I, II, III, and the Cordillera Administrative Region. 

The DOE said the finalized scorecards for electric cooperatives will be launched in September, with those for power generation and transmission facilities planned for next year.

"The scorecard plays a crucial role in conducting vulnerability risk assessments and preparing emergency restoration plans and provides clear benchmarks and metrics for measuring resilience, supporting informed decision-making and effective resource allocation," said Isabela I Electric Cooperative, one of the participants in the pilot testing.

The importance of resiliency planning was highlighted by the 2017 Marawi siege, according to the DOE.

The Energy Department said the Marawi siege led to the issuance of Department Circular No. 2018-01-0001, establishing the TFER and requiring energy industry players to submit an RCP for post-disaster evaluation. 

The energy sector’s resiliency plan would also include cybersecurity and the enhancements in RCP assessments and contingency planning, as well as underscore a commitment to science-based approaches for policy formulation and energy resiliency advancements, according to the DOE.

The agency said the ERS aligns with international frameworks such as the Integrated Resource and Resilience Planning Framework and the 10 Essentials for Making Cities Resilient from the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which is used by local government units to evaluate resiliency. —KBK, GMA Integrated News