The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will tap solar power for its offices to boost the government’s goal to increase the use of renewable energy.
BSP and the Philippine National Oil Company–Renewables Corp. (PNOC-RC) officials signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) last week for the installation of solar panels on roof decks of BSP buildings in Manila starting in the first quarter.
Solar panels will also be installed on roof decks of BSP regional offices and branches nationwide as well as on the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), which the BSP owns and maintains.
BSP Deputy Governor Vicente Aquino and PNOC-RC Vice President for Operations Pedro Lite signed the agreement.
Lite, in his speech, said 200-kilowatt (kW) capacity solar photovoltaic panels would initially be installed on the BSP’s Electronic Data Processing Building (EDPC).
He said the BSP’s initiative to heed Republic Act (RA) 9513, otherwise known as the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, was a big help to support the bid to install solar panels in all government buildings.
He said the 200kW panels to be initially installed at the BSP building will mean avoiding 200 tons of carbon equivalent in fuel and the saving of 5,000 trees.
The initiative was a small way to address the new normal as a result of climate change, he said.
“The BSP, aside from being an energy-efficient facility, is a leader in pushing for the use of renewable energy and we salute it for its efforts. We look forward for more installations,” he added.
Aquino, meanwhile, described the BSP’s contribution to the use of renewable energy as a giant leap towards the bid to address climate change.
“This is also the BSP’s way of supporting the government’s program to move towards the use of clean and green and efficient energy technology,” he said.
Aquino said PNOC-RC would procure and install the solar panels at no-cost to the central bank, and the latter would only pay for the electricity consumed.
He said ownership of the panels would be turned over to the BSP after 15 years.
“We’re hoping that this will also pave the way for and inspire other government agencies to have solar power and not to depend on other sources of power,” he added.