acciona.org, in partnership with Ayala Foundation, have developed the 'Light at Home El Nido' project to bring access to affordable, sustainable, and reliable electricity to more than 100 households and about 10 community centers at Barangay Sibaltan, an off-grid area in the municipality of El Nido in the north of the Philippine island of Palawan. It is the first project in Asia for acciona.org.

'Light at Home El Nido' provides households and community centers with 100% clean electric energy through solar home systems. These households and centers are not connected to the main power grids and have relied on diesel generators and oil lamps for their electricity supply. Even those with smaller solar equipment still find them insufficient to cover their daily requirements.

The new solar home systems to be turned over under ‘Light at Home El Nido’ will enable the community to carry out their educational, productive, domestic, or recreational activities more easily, reduce their energy expenditure, and avoid the emission of combustion smoke indoors and outdoors. All these will favor their social, economic, and environmental development.

Recently, we have put the first solar home systems into operation and we celebrated an event to inaugurate the project, which was attended by our director, José Gabriel Martín. Spanish Ambassador in Philippines Miguel Utray; ACCIONA’s Regional Director, Ruben Camba; El Nido Mayor, Edna Gacot-Lim; Sibaltan Barangay Chairman, Arvin Gabayan; and Ayala Foundation Inc. Senior Director for Social Development, Joanna Duarte, also attended the inauguration ceremony.

acciona.org and the Ayala Foundation project in implemented in collaboration with Ten Knots Philippines, AirSWIFT, AC Energy, Huawei and with the support of the Local Government of El Nido and Barangay Sibaltan.