Solar PH vows to end energy poverty by 2022

Published September 17, 2017, 10:01 PM

http://business.mb.com.ph/2017/09/17/solar-ph-vows-to-end-energy-poverty-by-2022/

Solar Philippines, one of the country’s largest and most advanced in Asia with 2.5 million panels and 800 MW annual capacity, has vowed to end energy poverty by 2022.

Marking the company’s fourth anniversary, Solar Philippines President Leandro Leviste has announced it will devote over 50 percent of its resources to areas unserved or poorly served by electric utilities, in line with its mission to make cheap, reliable electricity accessible to every Filipino.

Having spent its first four years serving shopping malls and residents of urban areas like Metro Manila, Leviste said his company will shift focus to serve the poorest Filipinos in rural areas.

“Inspired by President Duterte’s mission to improve the lives of Filipinos, we will do our utmost to end energy poverty in the Philippines by 2022,” noted Leviste in a statement, after President Duterte’s recent inauguration of the company’s 800 MW Factory in Batangas, the first Filipino solar panel factory.

“We’ve received thousands of emails from Filipinos asking for Solar with Batteries in provinces with expensive electricity and regular brownouts. While traditional businesses prefer to focus on larger markets like Metro Manila, we are hopeful that investing in rural areas will help uplift Filipinos from poverty, and eventually create an even larger market among the new middle class.”

At the company’s recent factory inauguration, Leviste unveiled to President Duterte the company’s first social impact project in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro, a town so remote it had been deemed unviable by even the electric coop. Solar Philippines is now constructing a 4 MW solar-battery farm, which will become the world’s largest Island Solar-Battery Micro-Grid, and bring 24/7 power to up to 20,000 Filipinos for the first time ever — at zero cost to the government, and at lower cost to consumers.

The company hopes this will be a model for every town in the Philippines to host its own Solar-Battery Micro-Grid, and save 20 billion pesos a year in diesel subsidies.

Solar Philippines hopes consumers will soon be able to form “Solar Cooperatives”, and generate electricity at lower cost and greater reliability than existing electric coops. The company is in discussions with various communities to bring this model nationwide, and integrate irrigation and other initiatives to create employment in rural areas.

Energy poverty, or the lack of access to affordable and reliable electricity, is one of the greatest barriers to the development of rural areas. Around 10 percent of Filipinos lack access to electricity.