Last month, I and Abe sensei went to the Philippines to visit a Solar Island Project.
It was a wonderful experience…
Quoting from sensei.. “to see is to believe”…
Check out the report on our googlegroups:
Title: 100625 Pang-an Solar Project Visit Report
http://groups.google.com/group/abe-lab-tokyotech/files?hl=en&upload=1
Some scripts from the report…
I hope this report may inspire us to learn more about solar energy…
Cheers!
William
The Panga-an Island, is an off-grid island, 35 minutes boat ride from the shores of Mactan, Cebu, Philippines. This island is relatively small with an area of 4.7 sq.km, and is home to about 2,000 people making their livelihoods through fishing and shells crafting. In 1998, a new light came across the island through the completion of a Solar Power System which would provide stable electricity for the island. This project was donated by the Kingdom of Belgium, coursed through the Department of Energy of the Philippine Government. The P22M (USD 840,000 USD at 1995 prices) donation was intended to help the local residents have better access, affordable and environment friendly electricity which could help develop their community.
The Panga-an Solar Project did have its noble reasons for installation. It was the intention to uplift the community with a sustainable and environment friendly project to provide for their needs. The main downfall for this project was the failure to address the capacity of the people to pay for the electricity and grow from the better access to it. Although seemingly cheaper by the kilowatt, the Solar Project as a whole was too expensive for the community to sustain and replace in the long run. People were forced to use and pay for electricity which they did not totally need or could not make full use of. The obligated consumption amount was too high for a family which needs only a night light for small activities. On the other hand, the produced electricity as a whole was too small to allow bigger appliances like refrigerators and air conditioners which may have been used for economic benefits for the people. There were clearly some aspects which did not meet for the project and the community. Technical, social and economic barriers do need consideration in these types of rural electrification and development projects. This is a concrete learning experience for all groups of society.