Mirant, AMORE to energize Mindanao communities

More power to the people.

More remote, conflict-affected villages in western and central Mindanao will soon enjoy a brighter more peaceful future with the renewable energy systems that Mirant Philippines is funding under the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Winrock International in cooperation with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Mirant, the country’s largest energy producer, is funding stand-alone solar-powered home systems, which will soon be installed in close to 1,300 households and 42 community centers.

The AMORE initiative will also provide solar power for 84 streetlights in 42 barangays inhabited by former Muslim separatist combatants in Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga City, Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato with the P17 million Mirant recently donated to the program.

In 2002, Mirant donated P35 million worth of photovoltaic battery charging stations, household battery systems and streetlights for 10 barangays in Tawi-Tawi and Basilan under the AMORE program.

Later this year, AMORE is expected to energize 24 more barangays in Mindanao with additional funding from Mirant.

“Mirant is one of AMORE’s most valuable partners in promoting peace and development in Mindanao,” AMORE chief of party Rodrigo Cabrera said. “It’s really determined to help the DOE reach its goal of energizing all unelectrified barangays in the country by 2006.”

“More than rural electrification, I think the pursuit of peace is the higher goal of AMORE,” Cabrera said, adding that this goal is also “becoming more and more important to Mirant.”

Proof of this, he said, is the recent inauguration of the Asian Institute of Management’s AIM-Mirant Center for Bridging Societal Divides, which seeks to develop more peace-promoting community development leaders.