A team of engineering students from the Technological Institute of the Philippines topped a Lopez Group-supported interschool competition for the best renewable energy idea or solution for poor, rural communities.
“iLawa”, a submersible deferred-action battery system developed by Team Blade TIP, bested nine other finalists to win the grand prize in Pasig City during the Sikat Design Challenge interschool tilt.
One team each from the University of San Carlos and Ateneo de Manila University emerged runners-up. USC’s Team Kahayag entered “Kaplag”, a wind turbine for lighting and alternative gardening; while AdMU’s Team Agilas submitted “Buhawi”, a dynamic vertical axis wind turbine.
By topping the competition, Team Blade TIP members received from SSCFI a P200,000 cash prize and a free trip to Semakau Island, Asia’s first micro-grid hybrid facility located in Singapore. The USC and AdMU teams each received a P150,000 cash prize.
A portion of the cash prize goes to further developing the prototype and eventually, its full implementation in the community.
Sikat Solar Challenge Foundation Inc., a non-stock, non-profit company, holds the annual school competition, now in its second 11-month cycle, as part of its advocacy to promote renewable energy development and use. Sikat Design Challenge is the country’s first annual inter-university competition that focuses on attracting college students RE solutions for possible application in rural communities.
First Gen Corp., along with subsidiary Energy Development Corp. and their parent company First Philippine Holdings Corp., supports the Sikat Design Challenge. First Gen, the primary holding company of FPH for power generation and energy-related businesses, produces electricity using clean and low carbon sources of fuel. Through EDC, First Gen taps RE sources such as hydro, geothermal, wind and solar, to produce electricity. All three are Lopez Group companies.
TIP’s iLawa features a submersible metal-air battery turned inside out. Through such design, the battery exposes the electrodes to a body of water that acts as the electrolyte. A buoy holds the batteries afloat while they harvest electricity for LED lights attached to the device. iLawa’s by-product also offers the potential to alleviate the worsening algal blooms in Laguna Bay by reducing phosphate concentration in the lake water. Algal blooms hamper the growth of fish in the lake, thereby affecting the livelihood of fishermen in Talim.
“With iLawa, we are able to provide a cheaper and clean alternative source of electricity that increases productivity of fishermen at nighttime and also the security of community,” says TIP engineering student Paul Nonat.
The TIP students conceptualized their winning entry while undergoing rural immersion in a fishing community in Talim, an island in the middle of Laguna Bay in Cardona, Rizal. All participants in the 11-month Sikat competition are encouraged to undergo the immersion.
The USC students conceptualized their entry during their immersion at the Upper Pilihan Area, Dalaguete, Cebu. The AdMU students, on the other hand, came up with their entry during their stay at Islas De Gigantes, Iloilo.
“What our 40 participating teams have achieved with their ideas and hard work, and the lives they have touched along the way is truly inspirational to us. From the start, it was our intention to ‘inspire the youth’.Little did we know that it would be a two-way street,” said SSCFI executive director Al Santos.
