Solar-powered shrimp farms in Sarangani implementing sustainable fishing, aquaculture practices in Mindanao

Transcript

00:00 More and more provinces in the country are tapping into renewable energy sources for their power

00:06 needs and in Sarangani and South Cotabato is no exception. Soojin Kim has more.

00:12 Solar-powered shrimp farms in Sarangani, South Cotabato leads the effort to implement sustainable

00:20 fishing and aquaculture practices in Mindanao. The San Andres Aquaculture Corporation or Sanacor

00:26 is reducing its carbon footprint and operational costs by opting for solar or renewable energy.

00:31 On average, the company saves 800,000 to 1 million pesos for just one of their farms.

00:37 "Solar-powered shrimp farm, basically from its name, we're a shrimp farm and we use solar energy

00:43 for to power our activities here. Usually shrimp farms and any agro-industrial farms in general

00:52 just rely on the electricity from the grid. Here in Sanacor, we started to utilize solar power

00:58 in order to help us in our production. We have become a solar-powered farm."

01:07 "When there was no solar, our electricity cost was almost 3 million pesos per month.

01:16 So when we got solar, our electricity cost dropped by almost less than 2M."

01:31 Being situated extremely close to the equator, the Philippines is an ideal candidate for solar-powered

01:37 industries because of the abundance of sunlight, especially in comparison to coal and geothermal

01:42 energy. Digital technology continues to find ways to bolster agricultural systems and production,

01:48 one of which is the conversion of solar energy into usable energy with the help of inverters.

01:53 "The role of the inverter was to convert from the DC output of the solar panel to AC output,

02:01 like the usable energy or usable electricity that we have.

02:04 When the sun comes in, the solar panels that you see behind me,

02:08 the output of those were DC. So that inverter was the key

02:15 how to convert it to usable energy for the household."

02:20 Huawei's service manager Jesus Casalara also maintains that solar power can be used in

02:25 virtually every site where there is sunlight. Sanacor has been operational for almost three

02:30 years. They have reduced about 15 percent of their carbon footprint. With less electricity

02:35 needed for their farms, less carbon is emitted. Moreover, the shrimp farms are provided with

02:41 security in the event of blackouts or power outages.

02:44 "Also, if there are problems with the grid electricity, because we rely,

02:50 mainly, the shrimp farms rely on electricity 24/7. Electricity cannot be lost because the

02:59 moment electricity is lost for like 10 to 15 minutes, the shrimps will die. They are

03:06 that sensitive to electricity. So if you take away the socoteco, or our grid electricity,

03:16 we will have a hard time surviving. And then we're taking care of millions of shrimps,

03:22 tons of shrimps here. So millions of losses."

03:26 More than the cost-saving benefits to solar power, this innovation serves as a testament

03:32 to the many ways efficiency and sustainability can be integrated to the agricultural industry.

03:37 Soojin Kim, for The Nation.