By Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr.

At this time when staggering costs of electricity increasingly burden customers, here is good news.

Through the initiative of Senator Imee R. Marcos, the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) will install a 20-kilowatt grid-tied Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System at the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) – College of Medicine this year. The installation of the PV system is under the INEC’s Solar Rooftop Program in Public Schools. 

The PV system is composed of solar panels combined with an inverter, and other electrical and mechanical hardware that generate electricity from the sun. 

This development initiative was made official through the signing of a memorandum of agreement between MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis and INEC General Manager Felino Agdigos held today, June 7, at the Office of the University President. 

In the agreement, INEC will take charge in the installation of the solar PV system. Once installed, MMSU will own, operate and maintain the system, subject to applicable government rules and regulations. 

Both parties will perform testing, inspection, repair, recalibration, and replacement of the Solar PV System, while INEC will take charge in measuring the net energy output of the renewable energy resource.  

PSCA expressed gratitude to INEC for choosing MMSU as one of the beneficiaries of its solar project, saying this aligns with the university’s aim to be at the forefront of using renewable energy. For his part, Engr. Agdigos said the project is one of the initiatives of the electric utility cooperative that help ensure energy self-sufficiency in the country. 

Joining the MOA signing were Vice President for Planning and Development Ami Ruth Cocson, College of Engineering Dean Edmund Edison Esteban, Research Director Bjorn Santos, NBERIC Research and Innovation Chief Thomas Ubiña, COE-Department of Mechanical Engineering Chair Nathaniel Ericson Mateo, and some INEC officials. 

COM Dean Policarpio Joves welcomed this new development, committing that the personnel will be good stewards of the project. 

Anent this, the Department of Energy is eyeing to establish Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in the university, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program Philippines, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte, and INEC. Using solar photovoltaic distillery and biomass, NZEB produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements, thereby reducing the use of non-renewable energy in an establishment.

MMSU is the home of the National Bioenergy Research and Innovation Center which advocates the development and optimal use of bioenergy as a renewable energy resource. (HLY/JVBT, StratCom)