Orion Group Targets Silliman as Asia’s 'Biggest Solar-Energized Campus'

An international company specializing in alternative energy is eyeing on Silliman University to become the biggest solar-energized campus in Asia.

Orion Group International, Inc. executive vice president Mr. Rynor Jamandre disclosed July 1 in a forum at the Silliman Hall his company’s plan of tying up with the Department of Energy (DoE) and the University on a project that would use solar energy in powering up a significant portion of the 62-hectare campus.

Mr. Jamandre, who was DoE Assistant Secretary Mr. Daniel Ariaso, said that Orion is proposing to install for free a 1.2-megawatt solar energy project in Silliman worth $2 million. When this materializes, Silliman will become the Asia’s biggest solar-energized campus.

Silliman is a DOE-Affiliated Renewable Energy Center. In partnership with DoE and the Negros Oriental Electric Cooperative, it has installed solar cells in homes in remote barangays in the southern part of Negros Oriental which have no access to electricity. It has also strongly incorporated its advocacy for clean energy in education materials that target both in-school and out-of-school youth and members of the local community.

Orion Group’s initiative on solar energy is a response to the global call for multisectoral partnership in addressing climate change by optimizing use of indigenous, natural and other green alternative sources of energy.