Solar project benefits 267 households

SUAL, Pangasinan, Philippines – TeaM Energy Foundation Project HEART and SOUL (Household Electrification Assistance through Renewable Technology and Social Preparation for the Upliftment of Lives) has benefited 267 households in two barangays in Infanta, Pangasinan.

The beneficiaries were Barangay Babuyan, an off-grid community with approximately 900 residents and another off-grid Barangay Pita, a mountainous area with around 1,200 residents.

With combined efforts from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Pangasinan I Electric Cooperative I, TeaM Energy installed 30-Wattpeak Photovoltaic Solar Home Systems, which residents have tapped into since Aug. 17 when the project was fully completed.

These solar systems are equipped to light four 5-watt light bulbs, charge cellular phones and are installed with digital AM-FM radios.

Team Energy’s HEART and SOUL project also installed two solar powered streetlights in each barangay-recipient that will keep community activities safe during evenings.

Solar home systems were also installed in their barangay halls and health centers.

About 67 more households, 32 of them in Babuyan and 35 in Pita, will be connected to Solar Home Systems soon after the DOE gives TeaM Energy notice to proceed with the project.

“Project HEART and SOUL” is one of TeaM Energy’s response to the call of the government in committing to achieve 90 percent household connections to electricity by 2017, Ricky de Castro, executive director of TeaM Energy Foundation said.

“Through HEART and SOUL, we are increasing the access of rural communities to adequate, affordable and sustainable sources of energy,” he added.

The solar electrification in Infanta is phase 3 of Project HEART and SOUL.

Phases 1 and 2 of the project energized a total of 5,551 households in the Polilio Group of Islands in Quezon province also through solar energy.

TeaM Energy Foundation Inc. is the social development arm of TeaM Energy Corp., the operator of two coal-fired thermal power plants in Pagbilao, Quezon and Sual, Pangasinan.