Such MFIs in fact have speeded up the electrification in the remote coastal towns of Palawan and Northern Iloilo as well as mountainous areas of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

These barangays have never been reached by the main power grids because they are too inaccessible and it would no longer be feasible to connect them to the main power sources.

In ARMM, a major player in the electrification of the remotest barangays is the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) project of the US-Agency for International Development under Project head Theresa Cruz-Capellan. Major suppliers of solar power systems include the Solar Electric Company of Robert Lopez-Puckett.

In Palawan, the Taytay sa Kauswagan Inc. (translated as bridging the gap between poverty and progress) with its 250,000 customer-base, has been extending financial assistance to energize-- through solar systems-- 13 barangays with 12,000 households in Quezon (3 barangays) and Bataraza (10).

In Northern Iloilo, the company of Col. Red Kapunan (ret.) of RAM called Progressive Bank Inc. has been financing the energization of the barangays in Balasan, Sara, Higantes Islands (including Sicogon) and Carles.

These areas have been identified by the Department of Energy and the World Bank as components of the rural electrification project using renewable energy (like solar, wind and micro hydro) and are thus eligible for financial subsidy.

Once covered by the project, solar systems are installed in households at a subsidized cost of only P13,500 which the MFIs will advance to the supplier (in this case Solar Electric Co.) as against the retail value of the system of P21,500, said Atty. Paulene Alfuente, Solarco project head.

The beneficiaries are pre-screened and given values orientation by the MFI. They are also required to give a downpayment for the system of P2,000 to P3,500 to inculcate in their minds that this is a grant, not a dole-out for which interests and penalties are slapped on unpaid balances, said Solarco president Robert Lopez Puckett.

Using the role modeling system—where select households in a given barangay energized by solar systems will showcase the benefits of solar system to their "un-energized" neighbors—the government’s rural power project is thus catching fire among remote households and is now speeding up the electrification of the grid-unconnected areas.

The TKSI (under its Executive Director Angel de Leon) launched its financing for solar power projects in Palawan in June and is expected to complete this in July 2008 with Solarco doing all the installation and maintenance of the solar power systems.

Aside from lighting up the remote barangays of Northern Iloilo and Palawan, Solarco has been tasked to provide the solar lighting for communal facilities like streetlights, barangay halls and health centers, and schools in Aklan, Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte.

Solarco started installing solar panels in the communal facilities of 8 barangays in Aklan in March 2007 with only 2 left to finish. This part of the rural power project is funded by the Department of Energy and Mirant Philippines, Alfuente said.

"Our task is to electrify the communal facilities with 800 systems to include 100 short-listed households to be financed again by the MFIs," said Alfuente.

In Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga del Norte, the USAID through the Alliance for Mindanao Offgrid Renewable Energy (AMORE) under Theresa Cruz-Capellan is Solarco’s partner tasked with marketing, social preparation and technical assistance. Solarco started installing last February and supposed to be complete by end of August. But Alfuente said she is negotiating the extension of the deadline with AMORE.

By December 2007, Solarco will begin installation of solar systems in 750 households in 21 barangays in Pagadian in collaboration with the Cooperative Bank of Pagadian, another MFI.

AMORE is now undertaking social preparations for the project using the barangay renewable energy cooperative development association (BRECDA), a membership group which is also tasked with marketing to the un-energized neighbors, collecting the monthly amortization from member-beneficiaries and securing the system from manmade risks.