TALAINGOD, Davao del Norte—Gemma Magsiwagan starts her day at 4 a.m. to pick at least 10 kilos of bananas from the nearby plantation to prepare for peeling, chopping and to be left to dry on the sitio grounds.
“I have to start early because our day ends early at 3 p.m. since we don’t have electricity.” Magsiwagan said.
This is the everyday life of the locals in Sitio Igang, an off-the-grid Lumad community in Talaingod.
The locals’ main source of livelihood is producing banana flour to be sold at the market for the measly price of P3 a kilo. The average household income in the sitio is P4,000 a month, just enough to cover their daily sustenance.
In the Philippines, three out of 10 Filipino households do not have access to electricity, according to 2010 data from the Department of Energy.
The national electrification rate stands at only 73.7 percent as of 2010, that is, 12.6 million electrified households out of 17.1 million households nationwide.
Sitio Igang, along with Palma Gil, and Sitio Salapion, Sto. Niño, all in Talaingod, are part of the remaining communities which do not have access to electricity—until researchers from University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP) decided to step in.
USeP was working on the development of a pay-as-you-go (Paygo) payment system for solar home systems (SHS) to help in the electrification of communities far from commercial power lines.
Led by its project leader Engr. Filmann Simpao, USeP has partnered with Leadtech Inc., a manufacturing company which fabricates solar home kits to come up with the now-completed project, “Pisolar: Payment Innovation for SHS Ownership by Lay Away Routine.”
Pisolar is a project funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) under the Science for Change Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy (Cradle) Program, which aims to design, develop, and deploy a pay-as-you-go solar home system (PAYG-SHS) using alternative wireless technologies.
It uses Radio Frequency Identification and Low Power Wireless Area Network technology to connect the PAYG-SHS with a control module to provide electricity and lighting to households in the selected community.
The project received a total of P4.9 million in funding from the DOST and was in development for two years and six months. It was monitored by the DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology (DOST-PCIEERD), and was completed in June 2021.
Before Pisolar, the community was reliant on kerosene to light their homes. But this practice is expensive, not to mention dangerous, to their households since their houses are made of wood.
Using an SHS for the community is the logical solution as they only need electricity for lighting, basic services and for charging mobile devices.
However, SHS costs thousands of pesos and is too steep a price for a community reliant on small-scale farming. This led Simpao to seek the Cradle grant from DOST to help develop and test the technology.
“An SHS is too expensive for their homes. What I envision for them is for the system to become sustainable and they become responsible in paying their electricity in manageable amounts and eventually, they will be able to pay off the unit.” Simpao said.
Compared to regular on-the-grid electricity rates, the beneficiaries of Pisolar only cost them P200 that is shared by three to four households per month. It already covers the lighting, use of a television and radio, as well as charging their devices.
Pisolar is operating on a lay away system which is similar to the build-operate-transport schemes in major infrastructure projects.
Leadtech manufactures, installs and maintains the units, then the community gradually pays off the entire device by using the system until they own it.
A village local entrepreneur is given the responsibility to collect all the payments of the households and is the lead contact to the operator of the control module.
Life-changing
Aprilyn Batuan, 9, also a resident of the Sitio Igang, is very thankful for Simpao for bringing electricity to their community. Her school, which still doesn’t hold face-to-face classes, is still implementing module-based learning for its students and Aprilyn is among the many students struggling with remote learning, especially in off-the-grid locations.
Before Pisolar, children in the village are already asleep by 5 p.m. due to the absence of lighting. But after the Pisolar was installed in her home, Butuan is now able to study her lessons past 3 p.m.
“We owe a lot from what we have now because of Sir Filmann [Simpao]. He helped me study my lessons at night.” Batuan said in the vernacular.
Besides the lighting system, families in the sitio can also watch television, listen to the radio, and charge their devices.
A mini sari-sari store was also established in the sitio center now that they have electricity to service the community. With the help of Pisolar, families can also prepare for emergency situations by staying tuned to the news via the radio.
Future plans
Eventually, Simpao was able to provide lighting to all the houses in the community using the Pisolar and the community is very diligent in their usage and are responsible for their payments.
“On behalf of the team, we would like to thank the DOST for this grant as we are able to effect meaningful change for the lives of the Lumad people. Definitely Pisolar doesn’t end here and we would like to start a company in the future so my team will have a steady source of income.” he said.
Moreover, Simpao encouraged fellow researchers to collaborate with DOST to make their researches reach those who really need it.
“I hope more researchers like me are open to collaboration with DOST as they have programs that support not only us, but also the people.” he said.
DOST PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico C. Paringit sees this innovative technology by the researchers as impactful to community.
“We enjoin our researchers and innovators to find creative ways to energize more communities in the future. DOST-PCIEERD continues to search for research projects that can provide solutions and opportunities for our citizens. We hope that our fellow Filipinos will take interest in our endeavors in research and development,” Paringit said. Darenn G. Rodriguez is a Science Research Specialist I at DOST-PCIEERD.
Image credits: Ceajay N. Valerio/DOST-OUR&D