The high cost of solar PV systems are discouraging many homeowners and businesses from investing in renewable energy, with majority of installers offering packages worth in excess of P350,000.00.
Bicol Solar Den, the most established solar installer in the island, markets through social media a “regular” setup with no battery that, with the smallest version of 6 kilowatts of power costing P270,000.00.
However, this tie-grid setup would work only during the day and in tandem with the electricity supplied by the First Catanduanes Electric Cooperative.
This is the same scheme employed in the P10 million solar power project installed in 2018 at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Catanduanes District Engineering Office in San Isidro Village, Virac.
The 300-panel system still works but was not producing power at the time the Tribune visited the office last week because of a power outage in the area and the fact that the diesel generator was defective and undergoing repair.
An electrical engineer at the DPWH, Rene Abichuela, said that for the system to work independently, it would need a large battery capable of storing 1 megawatt of power and this would require space as large as a 20-footer container for the battery and protection devices.
Bicol Solar Den’s smallest battery-equipped, hybrid on-grid setup costs P390,000 for a 6-kilowatt system intended for a home with an estimated electric bill of P6,000 to P9,000 a month.
The package consists of 7.4kWp panels, 6kW inverter, and 16kWh lithium battery, as well as installation costs.
The company’s biggest setup costs P1.67 million for a 30-kW system that could serve a residential building or business establishment with monthly power bills of P39,000 to P45,000 a month.
Another group offers a similar 6-kW setup for a much lower fee of P350,000 while only one installer in Virac offers the same setup for about P200,000.
The relatively expensive solar power installation likely leaves most homeowners, especially those groaning under the rotational eight-hour brownouts, with no choice but to spend a lot for fuel for their gensets or resort to rechargeable electric fans and solar powered lamps.
The scramble to have solar powered systems installed in island homes has attracted even solar installers from the mainland and Metro Manila.
But there is a distinct disadvantage as far as having mainland contractors as solar installers are concerned: it would be difficult for them to remove the solar panels in case a powerful typhoon approaches the island in the near future.
The same service is easily offered by local installers who charge a fee of P1,000 to P2,000 to remove the panels and a similar figure to reinstall the same once the storm has passed.
Not stowing away the panels could result in considerable losses for the homeowner, as experienced by one businessman whose rooftop installation lost three panels to a super typhoon several years ago.