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THE provincial government of Palawan will allocate a sizeable chunk
of its royalties from the Malampaya natural gas field to fund a
solar home system (SHS) project for its power-starved residents.
“We have a lot of sun power in Palawan, which
we are putting into good use to provide energy to rural
households,” Palawan Gov. Joey Reyes said.
Reyes said the province has earmarked P110
million of its proceeds from Malampaya to fund the second and third
phases of the SHS project. These will involve the distribution of
solar panels to 960 households in 24 villages in the municipalities
of Coron, Culion, Dumaran, Linapacan and Quezon.
The project is expected to alleviate Palawan’s
power supply woes as only half of the province, despite its
proximity to the country’s offshore oil and gas resources, has
electricity.
To make the solar home system affordable to
Palaweños, Reyes said the local government is setting aside a
generous grant to the beneficiaries. Each SHS installation costs
P15,522.00. But beneficiaries will pay only P130 monthly, or 30
percent of the total cost, for the next three years. The provincial
government will shoulder 70 percent of the cost.
Palawan, which is located in the western region
of the Philippines and composed of more than 1,700 islands, is
currently not connected to the country’s main power grids and has
had to rely on its resources to provide its electricity needs.
Since the start of the SHS project in January
2007, the local government of Palawan has installed solar panels in
l12 barangays in the municipalities of Aborlan, El Nido, Roxas,
Quezon and Taytay.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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