EU donates equipment for solar energy to power Mindanao houses
Communities in Davao del Sur welcome EU Delegation officials. Contributed photo.
MANILA, Philippines — The European Union has provided some 30,500 units of solar home systems (SHS) for remote villages in Mindanao in a bid to put a dent on the electricity problem in the country with some one million households in the Philippines still without access to power.
The program was marked by a ceremony held by the EU together with the World Bank and the National Power Corporation (Napocor) in Davao City on Monday.
“We are proud to have financed this action that reached vulnerable and isolated communities directly, providing a sustainable solution to a basic need such as access to electricity,” Christoph Wagner, head of cooperation of the EU delegation to the country, said in the ceremony.
For his part, Ndiamé Diop, the World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, noted that “there are still more than 1 million households in the Philippines without access to electricity, most of them in remote and isolated regions or islands of Mindanao.
Diop said that proper governance, public financing and off-grid renewable energy solutions “are critical to bring electricity to these remote and impoverished households and communities.”
The EU provided an €18.4 million (P1.06 billion) grant as part of the union’s €66 million (P3.83 billion) Access to Sustainable Energy Program.
The SHS are already installed in the beneficiary households of five electric cooperatives in Bukidnon, Sultan Kudarat, Davao del Sur, Cotabato and South Cotabato.
The Napocor conducted the bulk procurement of solar panel systems and facilitated the delivery and installation of 30,500 units to households within the franchise areas of the five participating electric cooperatives, namely: Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative Inc., Sultan Kudarat Electric Cooperative Inc., Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative Inc., South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative Inc., and Cotabato Electric Cooperative Inc.
Each SHS package includes a 50-watt peak solar panel, charge controller with lithium-ion batteries that can power at least 4 LED bulbs, radio, torchlight, and USB ports to charge gadgets.
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