DOE recently awards bidding to contractor
to electrify over 2T households nationwide
by Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, June 23 (PIA) - The Department of Energy (DOE) just recently awarded the bidding to a contractor to electrify slightly over 2,500 households located in off-grid power areas throughout the country.
The move is in line with the DOE’s thrust to achieve 90 percent household electrification by 2017 or six years from now, according to DOE - Renewable Energy Management Bureau Assistant Director Atty. Marissa Cerezo during a PIA forum that tackled the agency’s Philippine National Renewable Energy Program.
“If I’m not mistaken, there are an estimated 2,570 households nationwide that still have no access to electricity because their locations are far from power grid systems making electricity inaccessible,” according to Cerezo.
Under the Expanded Rural Electrification Program (EREP) of the DOE, the move is not only to focus on barangay electrification but rather, involves the electrification down to the sitios and households as well, this is said.
The EREP integrates the rural and missionary electrification efforts of the government in collaboration with the private sector, non-government organizations, and several donor-funded projects to achieve its target of 90 percent household electrification, according to the DOE.
Some of the households far from power grid areas under the program today enjoy access to electricity through solar-powered energy as in the case of 100 families benefiting 600 constituents in Barangays Bantol and Magsaysay in Marilog District, Davao City in Mindanao.
The 100 solar home systems was a project of the USAID Alliance for Mindanao and Multi-Regional Renewable/Rural Energy Development (AMORE) Program and the DOE with the latter’s objective to extend basic electricity services to rural communities, this was reported.
Cerezo said the use of renewable sources like solar and in collaboration with the private sector, the government’s goal to attain 90 percent electrification in all households especially those in remote areas inaccessible to power grid systems can be attained by 2017. (PIA 7-Cebu)
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Bantayan Island, Cebu may soon enjoy power thru biomass
By Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, June 23 (PIA) -- Island folks of Bantayan Island, in the northern tip of Cebu may soon enjoy the benefit of power using a renewable source abundant in the locality --- biomass.
Local officials of the island are tying up with some Chinese investors to exploit the possibility of building a biomass plant to produce biogas from chicken manure and wastes from piggeries, according to Engr. Ed Amante, the chief of the Energy Resource Development of the Department of Energy (DOE) – Visayas.
“Poultry is the main line of business in the island and there are also quite a number of piggeries. Everyday, abundant wastes are accumulated which could otherwise be put to good use such aspower generation,” Amante declared.
Biomass is generated from wastes, hydrogen gas, alcohol fuels and wood.
Bantayan Island composed of three municipalities --- Bantayan, Madridejos and Sta. Fe --- is popularly known as the ‘Egg Basket,’ generating more than one million and a half eggs a day or over 40M eggs in a month to supply the increasing demand for Cebu and exporting these eggs to neighboring provinces Negros, Panay and Leyte.
Amante said they are now trying to apply for a service contract from the DOE on the long-term viability of the project.
At the moment, the DOE-7 official said electricity generated from biomass in the island only amounts to 30 kilowatts but in case the move pushes through, power generation could tremendously increase to slightly over one megawatt, which is more than enough to power the whole of Bantayan Island.
Amante however, cannot guarantee that the cost of electricity may be lower than the traditional fuel-powered generation.
“But the technology use in producing power from biomass is not that expensive compared to technologies used in wind or solar energy. So perhaps, the cost of power may not be that expensive or just on par with the use of conventional electricity from fuel,” Amante said.
The Philippine Government is adopting the use of green technology or renewable energy resourcessuch as wind, solar, hydro, ocean, geothermal and biomass to generate electricity in the long-term approach. This also lessens the country’s dependence on fossil fuel, which has high exorbitant costs as prices are dictated by the global market while renewable energy sources on the other hand, are indigenous resources found in the locality which could be tapped as power generators.
Fossil fuel, meanwhile, largely contribute to the emissions of greenhouse gases that are culprits ofglobal warming which leads the paradigm shift to the use of alternative sources of energy.
Amante said that the Philippines, as an archipelagic country, has huge potentials in solar, wind and ocean for power generation as he urged investors to put their money’s worth in such viable projects.
Bantayan Island’s move to benefit their over 100,000 residents makes them a leader towards the country’s ultimate goal of energy self-sufficiency through the use of renewable sources of energy. (PIA 7-Cebu)