The beautiful fishing island of Sibutu in Tawitawi Province will be the first fishing community which will have a floating solar farm to power ice-making and cold storage equipment and serve as a fish convergence area or “Payao.”
In a meeting today at the Office of the Agriculture Secretary with executives of Aboitiz Power led by Tristan Aboitiz and Regional Directors of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the beautiful and historic Sibutu Island was unanimously chosen to be the site of the multi-function floating solar farm.
The floating solar farm, a new technology employed by solar power generation companies so as to minimize the use of valuable lands, is now being introduced in the Philippines by the Norwegian company SN Power in partnership with Aboitiz Power.
The partner companies have established the first prototype in Magat Dam, Isabela which is capable of generating 200MW.
When media reports about the new technology came out, the Agriculture Secretary saw this as a technology which could improve the productivity of the fisheries sector.
While fishermen in remote and isolated islands of the country could catch a huge volume of fish, the absence of ice and cold storage discourages them from catching more than what their family could consume.
In today’s briefing, Aboitiz Power executives said the Floating Solar Farms could be improvised to serve the following functions:
1. Generate enough power to run ice-making and cold storage facilities in farflung and isolated fishing communities of the country;
2. Generate power which could be stored in batteries to provide light to the fishing comunities;
3. Serve as a huge Fish Aggregating Device or “Payao” where small fish species would gather and attract big fish species like Tuna;
4. Function as a fish cage in coves or near the coastlines for the production of high value fish.
It was agreed today that the Floating Solar Farm prototype will be funded by the DA-BFAR with an estimated P20-M.
The prototype is expected to be completed in four months and when proven to be effective, will be presented to President Rody Duterte as an example of the adoption of modern technology to increase fish production implemented under his administration.
Two years ago, the DA introduced the Solar Powered Irrigation System which was endorsed by President Duterte and is now one of the banner programs of the Department.
(Photos of floating solar farm and fish cages were provided by SN Aboitiz Power. Photos of the meeting today were taken by Larry Nuestro, DA AFID)
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