Solar power to the people

MANILA, Philippines - If there was anything the Luzon-wide blackout that Typhoon Basyang left, it was a stark realization of how precious and fragile the Philippines’ power supply is. And Basyang was just typhoon number one of the 2010 rainy season.

Compounding the situation is the critical supply level at Bulacan’s Angat Dam, from where Metro Manila sources its potable water. No water also means no power from Angat which, in turn, means a possible power shortage.

That dark future is becoming more certain with the constantly increasing demand for power owing to the nation’s growing population. Not good for the new Aquino administration as it attempts to revitalize the floundering economy. Clearly, the country has to develop new sources of energy.

Early this year, solutions company Advanced Telecommunications Incorporated (Adtel) introduced the Adtel Home Solar Kit to the local market. It is a compact solar energy system for the home, designed to provide electricity when there is none.

The kit consists mainly of a solar panel and a control box housing the battery and an inverter. The basic model has 5-watt solar panel a battery that can power an LED lamp, a radio and a cell phone charger. A more powerful model with a 20-watt panel, called the Adtel Plug ‘N Play System, can run an additional CFL lamp, an electric fan or a television or a DVD player or a computer up to five hours, depending on how much juice you’re using.

The idea is to provide light, means of communication and entertainment. The system is compact and portable enough to be taken almost anywhere.

Because of the trauma from the massive power outage that followed Basyang, Adtel has been receiving a surge of inquiries about its Home Solar Kit, introduced early this year.

“So far we’ve distributed more than 150 units of mixed models from the start of this year,” says Japs Batara, head of Adtel’s solar energy department. “After the typhoon, people now are very much willing to get their own units.”

However, rather than package the solar kit as a backup power source during an outage, Adtel has a bigger picture in mind: provide electricity in areas well beyond the reach of power lines and help spur local development.

 “One of our priorities is to alleviate poverty through solar electrification and help the off-grid marginalized poor for them to have electricity,” says Batara.

Unbelievable as it may sound, there are an estimated 3.4 million homes spread over large parts of the Philippines that still don’t have electricity, according to the National Electrification Administration. About 46 percent or 1.5 million of these homes are in Mindanao alone.

It doesn’t help that the Philippines is spread over 7,100 islands. “Extending the grid or the wire through the islands is really costly, so electrification is concentrated only in franchise areas or clusters,” Batara says. “No one is really thinking of the off-grid because of the huge investment that is needed.”

To reach the 3.4 million homes, Adtel is pushing its solar kits primarily to companies, foundations and private institutions like Rotary clubs, for their corporate social responsibility programs because these households normally can’t afford the P10,000 to P20,000 price tag.

“Our selling point is, any private institution can adopt a CSR program, we just have to heighten the level of awareness of these 3.4 million homes that have never had electricity,” Adtel president Reynaldo Casas explains. “Electrification has a very, very low level of awareness.”

Adtel is currently testing the system in five pilot sites from Luzon to Mindanao, where it has installed the home solar kits as well as solar-powered lamp posts under the brand name Angel Eyes. “We never fully understood the meaning of poverty alleviation until we installed these in remote areas,” Casas says.

In the end, it is the threat of global warming that we have to worry most about. If the Philippines seriously pursues green energy technologies, Batara says, the country would be less dependent on the use of air-polluting fossil fuel in 10 to 20 years. “Because of climate change issues, it’s high time to use renewable energy sources.”