Palawan sets aside P110M for solar-powered homes

The provincial government of Palawan will allocate P110 million from the proceeds of the Malampaya royalties to fund its solar home system (SHS) project.

Palawan Governor Joel Reyes said the funding would jumpstart the second and third phases of the SHS project.

The fund allocation is consistent with the interim agreement among the National Government, the provincial government and the first and second congressional districts of Palawan and implemented by an executive order issued by President Arroyo.

With the Malampaya funding, the second and third phases of the SHS project will benefit 960 households in 24 barangays in the municipalities of Coron, Culion, Dumaran, Linapacan and Quezon. Included in the package is the provision of five solar-powered streetlights in each beneficiary barangay.

Under this project, every household two units of a  beneficiary is provided with a 25-watt peak photovoltaic module (solar panel), two units of pieces seven-watt compact fluorescent lamp, one unit 40 ampere-hour unit, 12 volt Battery, a set of charge controller with radio and one lot  in-house wiring.

 “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,” Reyes said. 

In Palawan, Reyes said solar energy is helping a lot of rural households in off-grid areas acquire electricity. 

He said one of their priority programs is the completion of  barangay electrification in the province under the Provincial Energy Development Program. 

Based on the projected population increases and the demand for agro-industrial use, Palawan’s power requirements are expected to reach 100 megawatt in a few more years.

He said 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 Corp., the Palawan provincial government has come up with a solution that will invariably change the lives of the beneficiaries.

Since the start of the SHS project in January 2007, the provinces Energy Division has installed 480 systems in the same number of households in l12 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,” Reyes said. 

He added that it is a good alternative to fossil energy since solar power produces electricity without the pollutants. 

Studies show that solar power is used in a number of different ways and one of these is the solar photovoltaic energy that converts sun’s radiation to usable electricity.  Solar photovoltaic energy is used in many parts of the world.

It is a cost-effective and practical way to supplement power in every home. A progressively more popular and sufficient way of incorporating every home and business with solar energy is through the use of integrated solar photovoltaics. With this, a specific place with enough sunlight may be able to go off-grid. To make the system affordable to families, Reyes has provided a generous grant to the beneficiaries. Each SHS installation costs P15,522, but beneficiaries will only pay 30 percentof the total cost amounting to P130 monthly for three years and the provincial government will shoulder 70 percent of the cost. In addition, the beneficiaries will pay a monthly association fee of P20 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 beneficiary will also shell out P50 a month. The fee will be used for the replacement of battery in case of breakdown. The association will collect a total of P200 per month from the beneficiaries for the next three years.