PNOC-RC, Heart Center team up on solar project

A UNIT of state-owned Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) has partnered with the Philippine Heart Center to promote renewable energy and energy saving strategies in government agencies and affiliates.

The Philippine National Oil Co.-Renewables Corp. (PNOC-RC), together with the Department of Energy (DOE), led the inauguration of the 100-kilowatt (kW) rooftop-installed solar power project at the Philippine Heart Center on Tuesday.

“We are grateful that our initiative through the solar rooftop facilities in academic institutions, which already paved the way for three academic institutions to go solar, are breaking ground in the energy sector. This is what we want to show everyone, that shifting to cleaner and renewable energy can be done,” DOE Secretary Zenaida Monsada told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony.

Philippine Heart Center executive director Dr. Manuel Chua Chiaco Jr. said the solar power installation at the hospital can generate 30,000 kilowatt-hours of power per month.

“[This is] miniscule in terms of our total electrical consumption of 900,000 kilowatt-hours but nonetheless, it’s a small step in the right direction,” he said.

The government-run hospital on East Avenue in Quezon City had agreed for PNOC-RC to spearhead the installation of solar panels at the hospital’s Medical Arts Building.

The partnership between PNOC-RC and the Philippine Heart Center was signed last May 12.

As the renewable energy arm of the DOE, PNOC-RC is set to replicate the MOA with other government agencies.

This is the first of PNOC-RC’s several solar rooftop projects to be implemented with government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environment Management Bureau.

PNOC-RC has also entered into an agreement with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Under the agreement, PNOC-RC will install a 100-kW solar photovoltaic (PV) facility on the roof of the DOST Main Building, Heritage Building, and other designated buildings at the DOST complex in Bicutan, Taguig City.

The move is in support of the current thrust of the DOE to promote the use of renewable, clean and green energy resources such as solar power.