By Henrylito D. Tacio
Recently, the government-owned Philippine News Agency reported that the provincial government of Sarangani has adopted the solar power technology to enhance the lighting system of its Capitol compound in the municipality of Alabel.
According to Engineer Franz Von Abriam, who is the street lights supervisor of the Provincial Engineering Office (PEO), a total of 41 solar lamps have been installed inside the capitol compound under the projects phases 1 and 2.
Currently, they are working on the implementation of the third and fourth phases of the project, which will cover the rear or back portion of the capitol compound. “The latter phases are due for completion early next year,” Abraim was quoted as saying.
PNA reported that around P2.4 million was allocated by the provincial government. Before it was implemented, the solar-powered street lighting project was endorsed and approved by the Provincial Development Council, the province’s highest development policy-making body.
The report quoted Carlito Rosal, who said the installation of the solar-powered lamps will drastically reduce the local government’s electricity consumption. “The solar-powered streetlights only consume 30 watts of power so that means huge saving in terms of electricity costs,” pointed out the head of the power room of the Provincial General Services Office.
Actually, the project “is the provincial government’s response to efforts by the government to promote the adoption of renewable energy technologies in support to the global call on climate change mitigation,” PNA said.
Some years back, then-Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño suggested adapting solar energy to solve the problem of power crisis that beset Mindanao every summer.
Given the abundance of solar energy in the country and the modular nature of the solar energy systems, Casiño said that solar energy can be an immediate and sustainable way to solve Mindanao’s power woes. “Solar power has the ability to shave the daytime peak demand for major cities in Mindanao,” he said citing Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Cotabato, Iligan and Zamboanga.
The former lawmaker who is from Davao said that if only the government harnesses the country’s solar resources, the country can build additional supply of power, liberate the people from expensive, dirty and imported fossil fuels, and develop the local renewable energy industry.
Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla of the Department of Energy, however, rejected the proposal, explaining that while the agency strongly encourages the development and utilization of renewable energy resources in the country, using solar energy might actually be more expensive for the people in Mindanao in the long run as solar energy requires long-term contracts to be viable which could take as long as 20 years.
An insider also gives this author these facts: Solar power cannot be stored and it is very costly. “It’s around P12 per kilowatt hour (kwh) while coal is P5.50 kwh,” he said. “As for hydropower, it is around P5.00 kwh.”
To produce one megawatt (MW) power from the sun, some 2 hectares of land are needed. “In order to produce the same amount of energy (total kilowatts produced in one year) of a 300-MW coal power plant, you will need more than 3,000 hectares of solar power,” he pointed out.
And “since power from solar power plant fluctuates (when there are clouds, or when it suddenly rains), you need a standby power plant that will switch on, to maintain the voltage. This is often a diesel power plant,” he said.
Whether summer or not, Mindanao’s peak power consumption is between 6 to 9 p.m. As for solar power’s peak production, it is at 12 noon.  “You are not actually addressing the problem of power crisis with this,” he said.
“Solar power is good,” he said. “But it is not the solution to our problem right now. Our problem needs a power plant that can run 24/7 regardless of the weather, what we call a baseload power plant. Once we secure our baseload, then we can pursue intermediate and peaking power projects like solar and wind.”
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PVs) or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. PVs convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect.
A company advertising solar power claims: “Solar power is an ecologically and environmentally friendly solution to your power needs. Solar power virtually emits zero pollution. Unlike fossil fuels, solar power does not emit harmful pollutants which contribute to the greenhouse effect which leads to global warming.”
It adds: “The Philippines, which has the most expensive electricity in Asia, will continue to have increasing electricity rates in the future. By generating your own electricity you introduce long term savings and will no longer fully depend on power providers. You also gain the reliability that when utility power lines are cut-off, you can still enjoy the electricity which you yourself generated using the power of the sun.”
Tapping power from the sun is not new in the country. In 2001, the Environmental News Network (ENN) carried this news item: “In one of the world’s most isolated areas, where power generated by coal, oil or natural gas is not readily available, 150 villages are about to see the light of solar panels as a means of their first electricity.
“BP Solar and the governments of Spain and the Philippines have signed an agreement that will bring solar power to about 400,000 residents in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, where about one-third of the nation’s rural poor live.”
The ENN report commented: ““Renewable energy in the Philippines is often more efficient than extending the electric grid. The prohibitive cost of building power lines and the difficulty of transporting fuel for generators to remote, developing areas makes solar power an ideal solution.”
Mio de la Cruz, in an article which appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, wrote: “On a scorching summer day in a tropical country like the Philippines, the sun beams out approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square meter of surface area that it shines on. If we could harness all that energy, then we could easily power our homes and offices for free.”
While solar power is indeed free and plentiful, the solar panels (the mirrors that catch the rays of the sun to turn water into steam that would turn the power-generating turbines) are very costly. “The cost of trapping sunshine and converting it into electricity is considered: approximately P1,000 per watt, way above the reach of the ordinary people,” de la Cruz wrote.
Those who want to avail themselves of 1,000 watts of solar power to run appliances in their home need to invest at least P1 million. But the good news is: The cost of manufacturing solar panels is getting lower every year. What’s more, their efficiency is increasing.
Solar power is indeed environment-friendly. As the ENN report puts it: “The solar systems in the Philippines will reduce the dependence of villages on non-renewable energy sources. The systems will also slow deforestation, as less wood will be cut to meet daily needs. Replacing diesel generators, the new solar systems will reduce air and noise pollution.”
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