Orion Group International Inc., a multi-national company engaged in renewable energy, has offered to power up Silliman University in Dumaguete City with a solar power system for free.

Rynor Jamandre, Orion Group executive vice president, said this during a forum at SU Wednesday, attended by Department of Energy Assistance Secretary Daniel Ariaso Sr. He added that Silliman, through its Affiliated Renewable Energy Center, and Orion will soon forge an agreement on the solar power project that will benefit the university and its students.

The DOE had officially accredited Silliman as an AREC for the next five years, with Nick Elman as project leader.

Jamandre said the project will initially involve the installation of a system that will provide between 1.2 to 1.8 megawatts of solar energy to Silliman. Cost of project installation to power up SU is pegged between P120-million to P150-million, he added.

He said the project will be a grid-tie system and would need no batteries for the solar panels. It would cost between P80,000 to P100,000 per kilowatt of solar energy without batteries, while the cost is from P180,000 to P250,000 per kilowatt with batteries, Jamandre said.

With solar power in place, Silliman will be able to save from its estimated monthly power bill of P4 million, he added, as he called on the university to use the savings to benefit students, teachers and employees, through the acquisition of more books, computers, desks and chairs, and construction of new buildings.

He said it would take some time before the project would actually start as concerns, such as the engineering design, have to be fine tuned still.

The agreement between Orion and SU-AREC is expected before July 8, Jamandre said.*JFP

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