MOA SIGNING. Representatives of the Mariano Marcos State University led by its President Shirley Agrupis and Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative General Manager Felino Agdigos sign on Tuesday (June 7, 2022) a memorandum of agreement for the installation of a 20-kilowatt grid-tied solar photovoltaic system. The project is funded through the initiative of Senator Imee Marcos. (Photo by Jeffrey Ronduen, MMSU) LAOAG CITY - Ilocos Norte is looking forward to reducing its carbon footprint and improving its air quality by powering its public schools with solar energy. The solar panels will be initially installed at the rooftop building of the relatively new College of Medicine at the Batac campus of the state-run Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU). In a seven-page memorandum of agreement signed on Tuesday (June 7), the MMSU represented by President Shirley Agrupis, and the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative (INEC) represented by General Manager Felino Herbert Agdigos, agreed that INEC will install the 20-kilowatt grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) system to the MMSU building for free. Once installed, the MMSU will own, operate, and maintain the system, subject to applicable government rules and regulations. Both parties will, likewise, perform testing, inspection, repair, recalibration, and replacement of the solar PV system, while INEC will take charge of measuring the net energy output of the renewable energy resource. According to Agdigos, the PV system is composed of solar panels combined with an inverter, and other electrical and mechanical hardware that generate electricity from the sun. "This forms part of our initiatives to help ensure energy self-sufficiency in the country," he said. For her part, Agrupis said the university is thankful it was made a pilot site for the solar project. "We are glad to have been chosen for the solar project as we aim to be at the forefront of using renewable energy," she said. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy is also eyeing establishing Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in the university, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program Philippines, the provincial government of Ilocos Norte, and INEC. Using solar photovoltaic distillery and biomass, NZEB produces enough renewable energy to meet its own annual energy consumption requirements, thereby reducing the use of non-renewable energy in an establishment. (PNA) }