First micro-hydro power launched in Negros Occidental
The first of its kind Micro-Hydro Power and Charging Facility was launched recently in Sitio Mambucano. Brgy. Cabatangan in Talisay City.
This small village benefits from a 10 kilowatt hydro power with charging facility where16 households charge their batteries for their energy consumption.
Through their cooperative - CAFARMULCO, with 20 active members, the community was able to avail of a cement irrigation canal but only extends 5 kilometers from a source in Campuestohan which is only halfway to their farms.
Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Incorporated (AIDFI) thru funding from the United Nations Development Fund- Small Grants Programme - Philippines was able to extend the canal for 2.2 kilometers and built the hydro power turbine to best cater to the needs of the community. Project cost is P2.2 million to include the charging facility.
Auke Idzenga, head of the Appropriate Technology Department of AIDFI with another technician from the foundation got the idea of hydro power from their training in Nepal and Indonesia on Pelton turbine manufacturing.
It took the foundation and the cooperative more than two years to finish the cement canal at the speed of 30 meters a day. The entire construction employed members of the cooperative and today, all components like the pelton turbine it had cast at RU Foundry in Manila are now fabricated by AID Foundation except for the generator from China.
Proximity of the houses from the hydro power turbine pose a problem since additional power lines is beyond the maximum budget of UNDP and so the battery charging concept became an option. Such option also is best as since it can regulate the consumption of households.
CAFARMULCO is in charge of the collection for the battery charging where members pay right after charging making the project sustainable according to AID Foundation.
To ensure water supply, the AID Foundation partnered with the Negros Forest and ecological Foundation (NFEFI) which planted 2,500 seedlings of endemic species along the canal.
Idzenga said that they are calling for additional funding from politicians and line agencies to maximize the excess power from the hydro power and for the replication of the project in other communities.
"It needs political will, seriousness and cooperation for these kind of projects to succeed," Idzenga added.
(PIA/EAD)