Wind Turbines in Batanes: A New Source of Clean Energy
Clean energy is achievable now more than ever thanks to Challenergy.
CHALLENERGY, a Tokyo-based business company, has constructed a 10-kilowatt Magnus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine in Batanes. This will increase the island’s current microgrid with clean energy.
Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko Koshikawa took part in an online inauguration ceremony for the 10-kW Magnus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine constructed in Basco, Batanes. The live event at Batan Island was attended by Challenergy Founder-CEO Atsushi Shimizu. Joining them were Philippine CEO Paul Michael Robles, Governor Marilou Cayco of Batanes, and Mayor Demetrius Paul Narag of Basco.
Generosity and collaboration
The recently installed system was made achievable thanks to financing from the Japanese government. They began working on the project in 2019. Development work was completed from April to August this year, despite the hurdles posed by the pandemic.
According to the Japanese embassy, Challenergy’s innovative wind turbine can withstand heavy gusts of wind, and assures a new clean energy opportunity for places with high-wind potential, but obstructed by the danger of typhoons. Company record says that it uses a mix of “vertical axis,” which allows it to correspond to omni directional wind, and “magnus effect,” which is a lifting power provided by the spinning of vertically-set cylinders.
The microgrid system based on the technology is intended to increase electricity access even during typhoons. This bodes well for livelihood opportunities on the island province. The wind turbine is also the first of its kind to be put up in the Philippines.
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More to come
Gov. Marilou Cayco, in a statement, said the “pioneering initiative will surely contribute to our relentless pursuit toward sustainable clean energy in the province.”
Cayco also congratulated Batanelco Manager Victoria Mata and Basco Mayor Anastacia Viola for “being instrumental in making this innovative and historical project successfully realized in Batanes.”
With the promising results of Challenergy’s wind turbine in Batanes, there is now a resolution to follow suit in Catanduanes. The resolution urges the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative, INC. (FICELCO) to look into the potentials of building a Magnus Vertical Axis Wind Turbine in the province. Proponents see this as a sustainable solution to the power problems which have long plagued the province.
Here’s to more Filipinos embracing clean energy!