MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Energy expects to complete its village electrification program within the year, following its achievement of a 97.13-percent energization level of the more than 41,000 villages nationwide.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said only 1,205 villages in the country remained without access to electricity.

Considering this, he said village electrification should reach the 100-percent level within 2009.

In Mindanao alone, he said, 94 more villages would gain access to electricity this year using solar photovoltaic and micro-hydro systems.

For 2009, the DOE had sought a budget of P336.6 million for the overall supervision and implementation of the government’s rural electrification program.

Reyes said that when all villages have been energized, the DOE would realign its focus to household electrification, which should reach the 90-percent level by 2017.

This could be achieved with greater private sector participation, he said.

He cited the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (Amore) project as an example of a successful donor-funded project.

Amore is a joint effort among the DOE, Winrock International and the US Agency for International Development. The group taps private sector companies to help bring electricity to remote areas in Mindanao.

The program aims to provide power to the last 1,000 villages and one million homes in off-grid un-energized areas with the use of solar and micro-hydro technologies.

Through Amore, Reyes said around 12,000 households in 400 remote villages in conflict-affected provinces in Mindanao--including Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga Peninsula, Cotabato and Davao-– had already been energized.