Locals reject solar power farm over Caliraya lake

The Manila Times

Locals reject solar power farm over Caliraya lake  Caliraya locals oppose the construction of a solar power farm over Caliraya lake in Lumban, Laguna for fears it will disrupt wildlife and tourism in the area. Nayon Kontrol Systems (NKS) seeks to build a photovoltaic solar farm over the lake's main thoroughways.   Video and interview by Ezrah Raya  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe  Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes  #exclusiveinterview  #caliraya

Transcript

00:00 Here with us is Manila Times columnist Peter Wallace, along with Caliraya resort owner

00:05 Struan Wallace, Hamptons residential development manager David Du, and environmentalist Mark Dia.

00:13 Welcome to the Manila Times, everyone. NKS Solar One Floating Project is a solar farm

00:19 in pre-construction in Lumban Laguna. So my first question goes to Struan, if you could start us

00:26 off. So what are the detrimental effects that you're anticipating to nearby residences,

00:31 residents like yourself and in tourism in Caliraya? Well, I just wanted to start off by

00:37 saying first that we're not against renewable energy. If anything, we are totally for it.

00:42 We just feel that the location where they want to put this floating solar farms will not only affect

00:50 the residents, the locals, but also tourism and the environment. They plan to cover the main

01:00 thoroughways of the lake, which is where most of the bancas and the boats pass through. And this is

01:07 where the fishermen go as well, and where all of the water sports happen, the windsurfing,

01:13 the kiteboarding, the canoeing, the jet skiing, all of that. So by doing this, and I believe they

01:18 also have a certain distance that you cannot travel next to the solar panels. I believe it's

01:25 something like 30 meters or 100 meters. I'm not totally sure, but that would basically block

01:31 the whole lake, meaning we could not pass through. And I think the main thing for all of us is

01:38 Caliraya is a very beautiful place. It is one of those hidden gems that is very close to Manila.

01:44 It's only about two and a half hours away, and it's beautiful. You're on top of a hill,

01:49 we have our own microclimate, you have all sorts of weather, it gets cold during winter,

01:54 you have migratory birds, local wildlife, fauna. It really is, if you feel like you're in a

02:01 different country, it's a beautiful spot. And our worry is that by putting these solar panels,

02:06 we are ruining such a beautiful place. And for what? Because we're on top of a mountain,

02:15 which would make putting these panels very difficult because they also plan to not put

02:21 them all in one location, but spread throughout the lake. And that would mean different cabling

02:26 that goes under, just the logistics, they'd have to build a new power plant. Whereas we think like,

02:33 why not put it in Laguna Bay, where the weather is better, the power plant is nearby, and you could

02:39 concentrate all the panels in one area. It just seems like a better option. Or one of the other

02:45 lakes or dams around the Philippines, which are not used as a tourist destination or as a fishing

02:50 spot or a livelihood for locals. Small point. If I remember rightly, we get about 1600 hours of

02:58 sunlight every year, and Laguna Lake, they get 2500. So if you're a solar person putting up

03:06 solar panels, you want as much sunlight as you can get. You obviously get a lot more just naturally

03:12 being down there than being up here. We do not, it's not sunny all the time. We get very strong

03:18 winds, which should make the solar panels difficult to float. Our tide goes up and down

03:24 almost daily. And when it's at its lowest, little islands pop out. That's how shallow it gets.

03:32 And also, we get very bad typhoons. So technically, the weather is not,

03:40 this is not, we just don't feel it's the best spot to be putting these solar panels.

03:43 All right, let me ask you this. Has anyone instigated a conversation with NKS Solar One?

03:51 Has anyone reached out? Well, we have been to a lot of meetings,

03:57 actually, in the presentations that they have. And even in the first meeting that we found out about,

04:05 and we went through, they actually, you could tell it was a very, it was initial stages,

04:11 and they couldn't answer a lot of the questions that we had. And then they had another meeting,

04:17 and then they brought in an engineer from overseas to help answer those questions.

04:22 But still, we're not 100% convinced in what they're trying to sell us.

04:27 And just another follow-up question, how much tourists do we get in Kalaraya?

04:33 Monthly, there are thousands of people. In our resort alone, we have more than a thousand per

04:39 month. And for the community impact, our resort currently provides livelihood to more than 300

04:51 families in the area, and will reach about 600 families in five years' time. Our resort alone.

05:00 And in relation to the amount of employment they can provide for the solar, it's no more than 50.

05:12 Because we are one of the first who installed solar panels in our factories

05:20 in the Philippines. So we know that we don't even have one person managing it. We only have

05:27 cleaners that comes in every six months to clean. Mr. David Du of Hampton's Residential Development.

05:34 So you are the manager of this residential development, right? And are you for the

05:41 construction of the solar project at Kalaraya or not? Because this would mean lower electricity

05:46 and being independent from the national grid, from NGCP itself. So, and you mentioned you were

05:53 already using solar panels in your homes, is that correct? In our factory in Pasig.

05:58 In your factory in Pasig. And how about in Hampton's? In Hampton's, we are opposing the

06:10 installation of solar panels because it is the main element of tourism in our area. The lake

06:20 and the surrounding mountains, the watershed is the main element, a main viewpoint in our area.

06:27 And the installation of solar panels will not benefit us because it's directly connected to

06:35 the national grid. Tell us what are the consequences of such project and that could

06:39 be detrimental to the environment? I think as what Struan has mentioned already, we as a group,

06:47 and a lot of us, are supportive of renewable energy. That is not the issue. The issue is

06:54 the location of where this is going to be, where it's intended to be placed. And I think

07:00 Struan and David has already mentioned quite a lot of the negatives of putting this in Kalaraya.

07:05 Beyond that, solar panels themselves, the current technology has quite a bit of hazardous materials.

07:16 So, to put them in direct contact or very close to a body of water is quite questionable.

07:25 One thing to note is that floating solar is a very new technology in our region. And in fact,

07:33 in the Philippines, nothing has been put up yet. Around the region, there's some in Korea,

07:38 there's some in China. Even in Europe, large-scale floating solar has not really taken off. So,

07:46 a lot of the renewable energy developers have been holding off on this technology because there

07:51 are much better places to be able to put solar panels. In Kalaraya Lake itself, one of the major

07:58 concerns that we have is disturbing of the bird life in particular. Kalaraya is well-known for

08:08 being a pathway for migratory birds. Just a couple of months ago, there were quite a lot of

08:13 gray herons that have been migrating. We have a lot of in the lake, great

08:20 egrets that congregate. We have, well, Philippine ducks,

08:27 Brahminic kites, different types of raptors, and quite a lot – a very rich bird life.

08:34 So, if you start on the construction of floating solar in a place like this,

08:41 the effects on migration for the bird life is actually not known. So, that's one of the major

08:48 concerns that we have. We're on a lake that can't be moved. Solar panels can go wherever they like,

08:54 wherever you want to put them. So, what we want is anywhere else,

08:57 or in Laguna de Bay, is that what you're suggesting, where the fishing beds are?

09:01 Well, we don't want to particularly recommend anywhere because we're not expert at this.

09:07 We think that any sensible company will research where is the best place to put panels?

09:14 Where do you get the most sunlight? Where is it close to a substation that you won't have

09:21 expensive cabling to put in? There's all kinds of technical things to look at

09:26 when you make a decision where to locate something like a solar panel. I don't believe this has been

09:33 properly done, but it would seem not. Because this is the only dam of 10 in the country, in Luzon,

09:41 where it is classified. There is actually an executive order under Marcos's father classifying

09:51 Caliraya as a wildlife and bird sanctuary to be protected and for tourism. No other dam is.

10:00 So, you could put these on any other dam and you wouldn't have the controversy that we are having

10:06 here in Caliraya today, where so many lives will be affected. This would not be the case

10:12 in other places. So, we think that there needs to be a lot more research done by the Singaporean

10:20 company as to where it should locate its panels that would be most providential to them and give

10:26 them the best return on their money. As I said, we get less sunlight here because we get a lot

10:32 of cloud cover. We're 286 meters above sea level, so we get more cloud here than you do elsewhere.

10:38 We get more rain here than you do elsewhere. So, it doesn't make good economic sense. I'm an

10:45 electrical engineer, so I have some knowledge of this stuff, but mine goes back many centuries,

10:50 many decades. I'm getting pretty old now. But just that one simple thing, as I mentioned to you,

10:59 less sunlight. The solar panel sunlight is everything. And much of the day, even when we

11:05 have sunlight, there's some cloud. So, you're getting less effective sun coming down to hit

11:11 the panels. So, it doesn't really make technical sense, let alone economic sense or social sense

11:18 to put these panels here when there's so many other places you could put them.

11:22 Well said, Peter. And as we've said, there's very little we know about this new technology,

11:28 photovoltaic, solar panels on bodies of water. But we do know its detrimental effects on wildlife

11:36 and as well as tourism in Kaleiraya. You should see the beautiful big,

11:40 big white birds. I don't know what they're called. They're gorgeous. Lovely big white things just

11:46 flapping around in the forest. There's forests surrounding the lake. This is a green area.

11:53 It's a pristine area. And the lake, you've got to come up. Sometimes you've got to be able to come.

12:00 I should come visit.

12:01 It really is beautiful here. It's so peaceful and relaxing. And yet, if you cover it with panels,

12:10 it loses all its attraction. No one's going to want to come. You don't come to look at solar panels.

12:17 You come to look at the beauty and peacefulness of a lake, of a body of water which is glistening

12:26 in the sunlight. That just gives you a chance to sit down, have a cup of coffee and gaze out at

12:35 peacefulness of the lake. That's gone. It's gone for the young people like Struan who like the

12:41 kite board. This incredible thing with a parachute, you know, it takes you along the lake.

12:48 You can't do that if there's solar panels. You can't go water skiing. You can't go jet skiing.

12:53 You can't go canoeing, which is good for your health because you can't get past. So it doesn't

13:00 make sense to do it. It's socially not wise and I think economically for the country,

13:08 disastrous because you will lose that tourism and the revenues that that will bring, the taxes that

13:15 will bring and the employment. And that's the most important thing. So many people are going to lose

13:21 jobs. The company says that it will employ a thousand people, I believe, but that's for

13:27 construction. Once the construction is finished, as David said, about 50 people at most to maintain

13:34 it and clean it. And when you clean it, how do you clean it without putting chemicals into the water?

13:41 That can't be good. So you end up not employing thousands of people in tourism, but 50 people to

13:52 maintain solar panels on the lake. That doesn't make good sense to me at all. All right. Thank

13:58 you so much. Manila Times columnist, Peter Wallace, Colorado Resort owner, Stewane Wallace, Hamptons

14:03 residential development manager, David Dew, and environmentalist, Mark Dia. Thank you for your time.

14:09 [Music]

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