| SOLAR
ENERGY, LIGHT OF HOPE FOR HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES LIVING IN OFF-GRID
AREAS IN PALAWAN
In
Palawan, solar energy is helping a lot of rural households
located in off-grid areas acquire electricity, a convenience
that has finally come to them.
One of the priority programs of Palawan Governor Joel T. Reyes,
the Barangay Electrification Project of the province under
the Provincial Energy Development Program focuses on the 100%
energization of barangays provincewide. Based on the projected
population increases and the demand for agro-industrial use,
Palawan’s power requirements are expected to reach 100
megawatts in a few more years.
Since
not all areas in the province, which is a narrow archipelago
located in the western region of the Philippines and composed
of more than 1,700 islands, have access to power generated
by the transmission lines of the National Power Corporation,
the Provincial Government of Palawan has come up with a solution
that will invariably change the lives of the beneficiaries.
Thanks
to the discovery of renewable sources of energy, the Provincial
Government of Palawan is able to meet the electricity needs
of residents living in off-grid areas through what , Governor
Reyes calls the Solar Home System (SHS) Development Project.
Under this program, the Provincial Government through its
Energy Division provides solar power installations in different
barangays all over Palawan.
Since
the start of the Solar Home System Development Project in
January 2007, the Energy Division has installed 480 systems
in the same number of households in 12 barangays in the municipalities
of Aborlan, El Nido, Roxas, Quezon and Taytay. Forty families
in each barangay is benefitting from phase one of the project.
“We
have a lot of sun power in Palawan which we are putting into
good use to provide energy to rural households,” explains
Gov. Reyes. He adds that it is a good alternative to fossil
energy because solar power produces electricity without the
pollutants.
Last
June 2 and 3, Gov. Reyes distributed solar home systems to
2,310 households in the Calamianes group of islands. These
households are located in 21 barangays in Coron, Culion and
Linapacan. Each barangay also received five solar powered
streetlights.
To
make the system affordable to the Palaweño families,
Gov. Reyes has provided a generous grant to the beneficiaries.
Each SHS installation costs P15,522.00. Beneficiaries, however,
will only pay 30% of the total cost amounting to P130.00 monthly
for the next three years while the Provincial Government will
shoulder 70% of the cost. In addition, the beneficiaries will
pay a monthly association fee of P20.00 in support of the
Barangay Power Association (BaPa) which will take charge of
the operation and maintenance of the systems. For the upkeep
and replacement of the battery used for the storage of solar
power, the beneficiaries will also shell out P50.00 a month.
The fee will be used for the replacement of battery in case
of break down. Total fees to be collected by the association
from the beneficiaries is P200.00 per month for the next three
years.
This
year, Gov. Reyes has given the go signal for the commencement
of the second and third phases of the SHS project. The Provincial
Government has allocated P110M coming from the proceeds of
the Malampaya gas revenues earmarked for the province of Palawan
based on the interim agreement between the national government,
the Provincial Government and the first and second congressional
districts and implemented by an executive order issued by
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. With this Malampaya funding,
the first and second batch of phase two of the SHS project
will benefit 3,965 households in 39 barangays in the municipalities
of Aborlan, El Nido, Busuanga, Coron, Culion, Dumaran, Linapacan,
Roxas, Quezon and Taytay. Included in the package is the provision
of five solar-powered streetlights in each beneficiary barangay.
Under
this project, every household beneficiary is provided with
a 25-watt peak Photovoltaic module (solar panel), two pieces
7-Watt Compact Fluorescent DC, one unit 40 Ampere-hour, 12
Volts Battery, one set Charge Controller with FM/AM radio
and one lot in-house wiring.
For
a more efficient operation and maintenance of the system,
every barangay has a Barangay Power Association (BAPA) whose
members include the beneficiaries of the project as well as
residents who are willing to become a beneficiary in the future.
With
the availability of the solar home system, family members
have become more productive. Children are able to study and
parents can attend to their household chores even at night.
They now have access to media through the radio set that comes
with the package.
Definitely,
solar home system in Palawan has somehow put the household
beneficiaries in the mainstream of development. If for so
many years, they have been living in the dark, so to speak,
the solar home system has given them the energy radiating
with the light of hope. (Rolando E. Bonoan, Jr.-PIO Palawan)
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