Team Energy installs solar power facilities in Quezon

Manila Times.net
Published : Wednesday, December 14, 2011 00:00 Written by : Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo


TeaM Energy Corp. has completed the electrification of remote areas in Quezon province through solar power installations.
Federico Puno, Team Energy president, said the company, through TeaM Energy Foundation Inc. (TEFI), has energized 3,400 remote households in the province in partnership with the Department of Energy and Quezon II Electric Cooperative.


“It is an honor for TeaM Energy, through TEFI to have helped the DOE complete this project which brings the benefits of electricity to thousands of residents in the Polilio Group of Islands,” Puno said.


Using a substantial grant from the DOE, TEFI, the corporate social responsibility arm of TeaM Energy, made possible the installation of solar home systems in the three municipalities in Polilio Island, namely Burdeos, Panukulan and Patnanungan.


These systems are facilitated and managed by Renewable Energy and Community Development Associations (RECDAs) formed prior to the introduction of the solar energy systems in the area.


The last batch to be completed were four barangays in Burdeous namely Bonifacio, Rizal, Carlagan and Mabini, as well as Barangay Amaga in Patnanungan.


These barangays are considered among the most inaccessible places in the country, especially during the wet months when giant waves pummel motorized outrigger boats that are the only means of transport to and from the Quezon mainland.


In the past, small genset operators provided electric service in the area but had proved unsustainable given the rising cost of diesel fuel. Aside from being expensive, service was unreliable.


“We are hoping that the benefits of electricity will be fully harnessed to help improve the quality of life of the beneficiaries,” Puno said.


Team Energy is one of the largest independent producers of electricity in the country with over 2,000 megawatts of generating capacity.


Roderick de Castro, TEFI executive director, said farmers and fishermen now enjoy longer productive hours as a result of access to electricity. Others, he said, have begun to set-up rural micro-businesses that would not have been possible without electricity.


“Slowly we are seeing an economic transformation take place in Polilio,” he said.


TEFI also spent over P20 million to contract local NGOs and do ground work on community profiling, organizing and assessment activities.


The foundation also funded capacity-building activities and social entrepreneurship ventures for the RECDAS. As add-on, and in partnership with the Asian Institute of Management TEAM Energy Center for Bridging Societal Divides, values formation training formed a major part of the intervention.


The Polilio Island project is part of TEFI’s Household Electrification Assistance Through Renewable Technology And Social Preparation For The Upliftment Of Lives program (HEART AND SOUL), which started in 2010.