Renewable energy for rural areas pushed

MANILA, Philippines - A government scientist urged yesterday the next administration to invest in renewable energy-sourced electricity for rural areas. 

Alvin Culaba of the National Academy of Science and Technology said to date, 98 percent of the country’s 41,945 barangays have already been electrified.

Culaba said renewable sources of energy like solar and wind power could be utilized to energize the remaining barangays.

For instance, he said, the photovoltaic solar energy can provide 20 to 100 watts for a single home. 

Culaba, however, said the technology is quite expensive and a single household could not afford the cost, so the government must provide subsidy to communities that plan to generate electricity using photovoltaics. 

Reynaldo Vea, president of the Mapua Institute of Technology, said that in 1969, only 22.9 percent of Filipino households had electricity, and 62 percent of these were in the cities.

But as Oct. 31, 2009, some 11.6 million households or 72 percent have been provided with electricity. 

Reports said that the most promising renewable energy source in the Philippines is wind power. The wind farm in Bangui Bay, Ilocos Norte supplies 40 percent of the electricity requirement of the province.