Photovoltaics provide electricity to rural communities in the Philippines

Almost a million rural households in the Visayas region of the Philippines have no electrical power. Solar Resources Inc of Wilmington, Massachustts has entered into a joint venture with three Philippine companies to install and monitor 18 residential photovoltaic demonstration systems to provide electricity to rural families for lightning and radio or television. The joint venture plans to install 2,000 more systems over the next 16 months. Members of rural Philippine electric co-operatives were trained to provide regular maintenance and it is planned that several of the systems components will be sourced or manufactured in the Philippines for a monthly fee. To promote self-maintenance, each family will own in system batery.