Using Irrigation Canals to Electrify Remote Villages

The proprietary Helios microgrid has been demonstrated in Northern Mindanao, Philippines. HeliosAltas Corporation demonstrated how a combination of micro-hydro using a local irrigation canal, PV, storage and Pico grid devices can effectively and economically and cleanly electrify an off-grid community in just a few days. For this proof of concept project, two 500-watt Powerballs micro-hydro units, 650 Watts of PV and 300 AH of AGM batteries were installed to power 10 huts in the village of Kibanban.

Ruth Yu-Owen

Ms. Ruth Yu-Owen has almost 20 years of experience in the field of renewable energy, developing wind power, hydropower, and solar projects. Ms. Yu-Owen is the President of the Upgrade Energy Philippines, Inc., a joint venture between her own company PhilCarbon, Inc. and Upgrade Belgium. Together, they offer renewable energy and energy efficiency expertise from Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) to owning a portfolio of commercial and industrial solar roof, waste heat recovery and other energy efficiency solutions.

Ruth Briones

Ruth Briones is a climate engineer and sustainability regulatory legal expert. She has helped the development of a total capacity of 1400.0 MW Renewable Energy projects in the Philippines and some ASIAN countries, 1200.0 MW of which are solar energy, 100.0 MW Waste-to-energy/Biomass and Hydro Power projects. Currently, she is negotiating for PPP Waste-to-Energy projects in Indonesia and primary cities in the Philippines. In 2019 she has started the development of community-based hybrid biomass/agro-solar PV in the Philippines and Nepal.