PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Around 236 households will now get to enjoy 24/7 power supply in a remote barangay in El Nido, northern Palawan, following the inauguration of a 75-kilowatt peak (kWp) renewable energy system.
A hybrid solar power plant, launched on Sunday by Enervinci Philippines, Inc. (EPI) and CEnAG Solar, Inc. (CSI), to provide energy access to said households in Barangay New Ibajay.
Daisy Marquez, executive director of CEnAG, a green energy solutions German-Filipino engineering company, said Monday that New Ibajay is the first-ever beneficiary of their community-based renewable energy power plant project.
She said the cost of electricity for New Ibajay residents using their solar hybrid system would cost 40 percent less than the supply from generator sets (gensets).
“With this installation, we are able to show authorities that isolated communities can now be energized with renewables and through what we call distributed generation facilities (DGFs),” she said.
The hybrid solar system integrates a solar PV plant as the power source, and a lithium-ion-based energy storage. Its total is 117.165-megawatt hours per year, and its 75-kWp solar PV has 248-kWh storage, Marquez said.
“The solar hybrid system is much anticipated by the villagers as they will soon be able to enjoy electricity 24/7. In addition, the cost of electricity will be 40 percent cheaper than with the use of genset,” she said.
The New Ibajay Multipurpose Cooperative (NIMC) will manage the daily operations of the system, particularly the distribution of alternative power to consumers, and the monthly collection.
Of the PHP26 per kilowatt hour price, PHP24 will be returned to EPI and CEnAG, whose system is worth PHP20 million.
Marquez said that under the agreement, the whole amount would be paid PHP247,368 monthly by the cooperative for 15 years to become its full owner.
“We built this for almost five years, but it also takes a very strong and prepared leadership to make this happen,” she said. Its construction started in 2013.
She said New Ibajay residents had no access to the power lines in El Nido, which ends 30 kilometers away. They only rely on an old dilapidated genset to supply electricity.
“The village hosts an elementary and high school with 1,000 students, and where we saw computers still unopened because the school has no electricity,” said Marquez.
Mayor Nieves Rosento of El Nido, meanwhile, said that the renewable energy project was the product of an approved resolution that made New Ibajay as a “model community for the clean energy program” in Palawan.
She added the municipal government has allocated PHP300,000 from the supplemental budget for cooperatives in El Nido, and New Ibajay could be a beneficiary. (PNA)
