IN A bid to harness the abundance of nature, the municipality of Jagna has dared to venture into power generation, not only to help light the community, but most importantly to procure a reliable, reasonable and stable electric supply in the province and for this town.
Mayor Joseph A. Rañola envisions this and it becomes a reality with the groundbreaking and signing of an agreement in behalf of the town with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) on Friday to erect a 5-megawatt solar plant in a lot in barangay Cantagay of this bustling port town.
The groundbreaking was not pushed thru as planned when the weather did not permit but the signing of a P92-million loan held at the town’s air-conditioned cultural center was undertaken.
Rañola and Vice-Mayor Teofisto Pagar, in behalf of the town, and DBP chair of the Board of Directors Philip Lo and Senior Vice-President for Lending Ana Marie Veloso signed the said agreement as witnesses by the audience attending the affair.
The mayor said that he was able to convince Mr. Philip Lo to lower down the interest rate to 6% per annum from 7%. And indeed, Lo, in his short speech, approved the lower rates for the loan, said to be payable for 15 years.
Ranola said that this power generation initiative has been prompted after the onslaught of October 15, 2013 magnitude 7.2 earthquake, November 8, 2013 supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ and the December 16, 2021 supertyphoon ‘Odette’ that plunged Bohol into darkness without electricity for months.
The new plant is aimed at increasing renewable energy capacity in the province as some other areas, like San Vicente, Dagohoy town and Ubay, have already started mounting solar panels for a combined 127 megawatts.
Rañola said that Bohol needs more power supply since the consumption of electricity is pegged at 140-MW to sustain its development as more and more investors are coming to do business here, which, as a consequence, could generate more job opportunity.
Renewable energy comes from unlimited, naturally replenished resources, such as the sun, water and wind mainly for electricity generation.
Mayor Rañola expressed gratitude to director Renante Sevilla of the Department of Energy (DOE) who was present during the signing and for giving the green light for the project.
The mayor deliberately made special mention and thanked the former Governor Erico B. Aumentado (deceased and father of incumbent governor) for initiating to put up thru the then National Power Corporation the dreamt underwater power cable with a capacity of 100MW of geothermal source from Tongonan, Leyte, popularly known as the Leyte-Bohol Interconnection Power project. Since then completion of the said project, Bohol has been dependent on it.
Congresswoman Alexie B. Tutor can’t help but describe the venture as “a leap of faith” as the town is “taking the risk” in such venture. Tutor, who personally attended the affair, congratulated the town and the mayor for the project.
Governor Aris Aumentado, who also attended the event, expressed appreciation and congratulations to the townsfolk and officials for the laudable undertaking as this will boost the unstable power supply in the province.
The mayor thanked the guests, the townsfolk, officials and those who labored for their presence and for making dream comes true. (rvo)
