Cordillera mini-hydro power project cited

A micro-hydro electricity project in the Cordilleras is one of the nine sustainable energy projects from around the globe cited as finalists in this year’s Ashden Awards.

Drawn from a record number of entries worldwide, the micro-hydro electricity project of the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement (SITMO) was short-listed for the prestigious green energy awards, hoping to best entries from other countries, including Bangladesh, Honduras, India, Nepal, Nigeria and Rwanda.

The Ifugao micro-hydro electricity project was inspired by the threats posed by globalization, which SITMO believes will "devastate" the harmonious landscape of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, the so-called Eighth Wonder of the World, and may cause the "falling away" of the Ifugao way of life.

SITMO, a small non-government organization (NGO) composed of Ifugao volunteers and former employees of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, believes it is important to keep the farming economy in the highlands going, thus the need to find ways to bring the modern world more kindly into the area.

For SITMO, bringing electricity to the Ifugao communities can help make them more economically viable, thus the micro-hydro power which offers the most practical, affordable and sustainable means.

"Micro-hydro is ideally suited to the rice terraces. With the steep valleys and fast-flowing streams, it is a relatively simple matter to divert some of the flow along a channel on the terraces, and send it rushing down a ‘penstock’ pipe with enough force to spin the blades of a small turbine on the riverbanks below," said SITMO.

"And with their centuries of experience in manipulating water, you could say that micro-hydro is in the Ifugao’s blood," it added.

Currently, various schemes are in place in more than a dozen villages in the rice terraces — from the simple "firefly design" used to charge 12-volt batteries to power lights and appliances such as radios, to larger projects such as the 10-kilowatt "dragonfly design," which provides power to over 30 households in the village of Bakiawan.

The micro-hydro power project boosts local crafts such as basket-weaving, broom-making, wood-carving and furniture-making, as well as the manufacture of agricultural implements.

The local cooperatives running the plant set the power rates, which vary from scheme to scheme.

In Bakiawan, for instance, a household pays P1,000 or supplies about 20 to 30 days of labor each month. They then pay P10 per socket or bulb per month.

Trained volunteers or cooperative members run the plant from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. and occasionally during community events such as weddings.

The Ashden Trust put up the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy in 2001. A panel of judges from the academe, media, the energy sector and non-government organizations will hand out the awards in London at the end of this month.