Samal Households Receive Solar Power
Some of you long time readers may remember some of my early articles referencing my desire to use solar power when I got a house built on Samal. I still have a lot of interest in solar power in the Philippines, but have done next to nothing in regards to doing anything about it. Partially because it will be so far off, but also because I was not having much luck with finding solutions that would work there.
The DOE (Department of Energy) didn’t wait for me to get my act together, they have already implemented solar power for some homes on Samal Island.
As part of a Philippine Energy Efficiency Project (PEEP) funded by a loan from the Asian Development Bank, households that were previously without electricity (off-grid) now enjoy solar power via a system that is composed of a solar panel, a storage battery and three lamps. Total cost is P28,800 of which is picked up by the DOE. The households are also given training as to the use and maintenance of the system. There is no on-going energy bill for these homes.
“Solar energy emitted by the panel and stored in the battery is enough to light up the household for the entire night,” said Rosalie Joan Sotelo, senior science research specialist of DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Division.
The article does not say how many homes in the Samal area are covered, but a total of 233 households are furnished within 4 areas in the Visayas and Mindanao – Samal Island, Davao; Pandan, Antique; Makato, Aklan; and Manalo, Palawan.
So, I guess this makes my plan clear. I just need to build in an area that is off grid, and I’ll get my solar, and not only that, but have it paid for by the DOE. Joke only!
Ref: DOE powers four off-grid areas through solar technology – PIA NEWS
I already heard and saw in a distance about the solar power system. Good enough that I saw it clearly now. The price is expensive though but of course cheap for those who can afford it , I am just curious and positive that in addition to lamps, it could also use in television, computer and laptop hopefully. Very useful and beneficial to the ones living in remote areas while electricity is not yet available in their location.
Samal Island is so lucky then that the Department of Energy have chosen them to be the recipient of their solar project.
Your article is very informative. Thank you very much sir Randy.
While the price is expensive still, but at least these households did not have to pay for it.
I wonder if the DOE couldn’t promote this and offer this at a discounted rate to any households that wanted to take advantage of solar power, on-grid or not.
I bet there are a lot of people willing to pay for this, because it would save them over time.
Randy,
It would be great if everyone had a chance to buy some solar panels, even if it’s only one. One panel will probably light a few lights for a few hours, depending on the amount of storage. But the better part would be that for many people, they would be able to see for themselves how it works and realize the cost savings. This would in turn, drive demand.
When I was there in Davao and Samal, I couldn’t find any distributors or anyone familiar with solar energy technology. Start buying and using small systems, then one could always add on. Not so sure the electric companies are so happy about everyone using solar.
Hi Kevin – it can be advantageous to electric companies to offer solar. I’m not sure what the situation is there, but in many places resources are strained. This would take a load off, if even just a little.
I wonder where they are getting their product. Importing I suppose. I would really be interested if they were to offer it for sale.