In June our field rep in the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcelo, hiked into the Tiruray mountains to visit Sitio Lobo, a small community near Lake Sebu, where we funded the installation of a micro hydropower generator in a nearby river. As he details in his blog, it didn’t take long for him to notice that things were different:

“Scarcely had we finished the arduous eight-hour journey up the mountain did we hear television sets and radios from lit homes at Sitio Lobo’s outskirts. At their hearths, teaming electric rice cookers had replaced rice pots blackened by wood fire, a sharp contrast to my first visit in 2010 when the few signs of electricity were powered either by a leased solar panel home system or a small gas generator.”

The hydropower generator doesn’t just offer clean, renewable energy – it’s proving easy access to electricity for an entire community (something that leased solar panels and small gas generators don’t come close to doing). So far, 80 of Sitio Lobo’s 250 households are hooked up to the grid, and it’s expected that many more will follow once it’s proven to work reliably.

The generator, which debuted in May, is run by a management board comprised of locals called Lubo Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (LURECDA). Since then, LURECDA has been working to install meters to get new people connected while also managing the micro hydropower generator itself – doing maintenance work and regulating water flow to match the community’s demand for energy.

But according to Marcelo, this is just the start. “The available water is so plentiful that the potential for expansion is undeniable. Should LURECDA manage their operations and finances well, they may be in a position to supply electricity to neighboring villages in the near future – particularly if they are able to save enough to finance the construction of another micro hydro.” Already they’re talking about how best to expand staff to handle more customers.

We provided funds for the generator plus a fruit tree nursery to support the protection of over six thousand acres of watershed forest in the area. As Marcelo explains, the generator is directly helping this effort:

“The T’boli and Manobo tribes who reside at the edges of the watershed in the upper reaches of Sitio Lubo are tasked to patrol the forests against poachers and to continue gathering tree seedlings for the nurseries. For their efforts, 10% of the micro hydro’s monthly net income will be given to them.”

Find more info on the micro-hydropower generator on the Sitio Lobo project page. And read Marcelo’s full account of his visit on his blog, “Nature Calls”.