By Keith Anthony S. Fabro
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, April 24 (PNA) – – The 20-year build-lease-transfer (BLT) “Puerto Princesa City Solar Showcase” strategically installed atop the new city hall complex was finally inaugurated Friday afternoon, making it the first Philippine-German green government infrastructure project in the country in terms of energy efficiency.
“This solar project further boosts Puerto Princesa’s reputation as a city that is living and growing in harmony with its pristine natural environment,” said Mayor Lucilo Bayron in welcoming the innovative solar project.
“We’re using cutting edge clean technology to generate renewable energy and save taxpayer money while building our economy and creating new career opportunities for our people,” he added.
The showcase, deemed to ease the city government’s power bill encumbrance, is a fruition of the solar power agreement Bayron’s administration had entered into late March with world-class renewable energy developer Vissolis Philippines, Inc. (VPI) that shoulders all of its financing, designing and installation.
“We’re reproducing a lot of energy for Puerto Princesa [that is] good for the economy, the people and the environment,” Thomas Hayes, Vissolis Chief Operating Officer told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
He adds, “Visollis’ project which is clean, lower-cost, reliable and sustainable is all about energy for the people by the people.”
Unlike the PHP10/kWh it has been paying to the Palawan Electric Cooperative (PALECO), the city government only has to pay PHP8/kWh electricity generated by the Vissolis solar panels.
“The best way to save is by producing your own electricity that you don’t buy from someone else,” said Hayes.
On its first year of tenancy, at the said city hall complex, the administration in 2014 had paid a total of PPHP6.8-million, or an average of PHP570,000 a month to the PALECO.
Roughly, it consumed a total of 1,292,900 kWh, or an average of 107,741.7 kWh a month.
Meanwhile, the solar showcase composed of three hundred 260-Watt photovoltaic (PV) modules that convert bright sunlight directly to electricity has 78-kilowatt peak capacity and can produce about 100,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.
Three solar inverters will transform the direct current of the modules into alternating current and match the grid frequency of the electricity circulating at the City Hall Complex.
Each solar panel has an economic lifespan of around 35 years. This means that once the20-yr. BLT contract has ended, the city government will finally operate the facility for the remaining 15 years for free.
Hayes, meanwhile, assures Vissolis has trained local Filipino solar energy team to keep the system running all throughout its economic lifespan.
The project is part of the worldwide dena Renewable Energy Solutions Program coordinated by Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH (dena) – the German Energy Agency, and co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) within the initiative “renewables – Made in Germany.”
The inauguration program held here was also attended by German Ambassador to the Philippines Thomas Ossowoski, along with Vissolis team, led by CEO Carlos Mayer and representative of Department of Energy among others. (PNA)