SHIFTING to abundant and cost-efficient solar energy can significantly bring down the cost of electricity for homes and businesses and mitigate the impact of an impending energy crisis, former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno said over the weekend.
Speaking during the ceremonial switching-on of a 50-kilowatt solar-energy system installed by GenWATT Energy Solutions at the building of St. Martin of Tours Credit and Development Cooperative in Bocaue, Bulacan, Puno pointed out that the country’s continuing dependence on imported oil and coal threatens not only the country’s energy security but also economic security.
Puno, who chairs the board of GenWATT, warned that an unabated rise in electricity costs, spiraling prices of imported fossils fuels and the expected depletion of the Malampaya natural gas fields in Palawan, if not effectively addressed, could bring the country back to the dark days of rotating blackouts and leave many businesses and industries grinding to a halt, resulting in billions of pesos in economic losses.
He said the installation of solar energy systems in homes and buildings, such as the one at St. Martin Coop, will not only reduce electricity costs for households and businesses, but reduce the country’s power-supply deficit.
One solution, he said, is to harness solar energy to bring down the cost for homes and businesses and increase energy supply.
Echoing Puno, Serafin Celestino Jr., chief executive officer of St. Martin Coop, said shifting to solar “will significantly lessen the demand for coal-dependent energy and help generate cost-effective and reliable renewable energy.
“And if only the energy companies and the government could make harnessing solar energy more affordable for everybody to eventually free them from the shackles of high energy cost, I believe that more people, more businesses will shift to solar energy,” he added.
Wendell Tamayo, GenWATT chief executive officer, said the 50-kilowatt system with an initial 40-kilowatt generation capacity can produce 150 to 200 kilowatts of electricity on a normal sunny day, supplying 60 to 80 percent of the building’s requirements during office hours. It has the potential to save P45,000 to P70,000 in electricity bills every month at a price of P11.00 per kilowatt-hour.
He said that over the 25-year guaranteed production efficiency of the solar panels, the system is projected to generate 1,500 megawatts of electricity and potentially earn for St. Martin Coop up to P30 million in electricity bills, and at the same time, sequester some 350 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
