In a bid to harness the abundance of nature, the municipality of Jagna has dared to venture into power generation, not only to help light the community, but most importantly to procure a reliable, reasonable and stable electric supply in the province and for this town.
Mayor Joseph A. Ranola envisions this and it becomes a reality with the groundbreaking and signing of an agreement in behalf of the town with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) on Friday to erect a 5-megawatt solar plant in a lot in barangay Cantagay of this bustling port town.
The groundbreaking was not pushed thru as planned when the weather did not permit but the signing of a P92-million loan held at the town’s air-conditioned cultural center was undertaken.
Ranola and Vice-Mayor Teofisto Pagar, on behalf of the town, and DBP chair of the Board of directors Philip Lo and senior vice-president for lending Ana Marie Veloso signed the said agreement as witnesses by the audience attending the affair.
The mayor said that he was able to convince Mr. Philip Lo to lower down the interest rate to 6% per annum from 7%. And indeed, Lo, in his short speech, approved the lower rates for the loan, said to be payable for 15 years.
Ranola said that this power generation initiative has been prompted after the onslaught of October 15, 2013, magnitude 7.2 earthquake, November 8, 2013, supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ and the December 16, 2021, supertyphoon ‘Odette’ that plunged Bohol into darkness without electricity for months.
The new plant is aimed at increasing renewable energy capacity in the province as some other areas, like San Vicente, Dagohoy town and Ubay, have already started mounting solar panels for a combined 127 megawatts.
Ranola said that Bohol needs more power supply since the consumption of electricity is pegged at 140-MW to sustain its development as more and more investors are coming to do business here, which, as a consequence, could generate more job opportunity.
