Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Administrator Oscar G. Garin has announced that Barangay Apad in Jomalig Island is now enjoying electricity as a result of successful experiments pioneered by PCA during the time of former Administrator Jesus Paras on the use of Filtered Coconut Oil (FCCNO) as Biofuel in Stationary and Mobile Engines.

Administrator Garin explained that an FCCNO plant with 1 MT copra capacity was inaugurated in the island recently while the 25 kva genset set-up by partner project Department of Energy thru the Quezon Electric Cooperative (QUEZELCO) was switched on. Another partner in this endeavour is the Asian and Pacific Coconut Community (APCC),an intergovernmental organization with 15 member countries .This pilot project on the Production and Demonstration of FCCNO now provides electricity to 47consumers out of the targeted 56 households.

PCA Product Development Department (PDD) Manager Dina Masa who supervised the agency's experiments explained that PCA provided the FCCNO equipment while the local government unit counterpart provided the building raw materials, maintenance and operating expenses.

Ms. Masa said that Jomalig Island was chosen as project site since copra price in the place is cheap which makes the production cost of FCCNO also cheap. She explained that to make the processing plant's operation financially feasible, the copra price in the locality or island community should at least be P20/kg or lower and the diesel price P40/liter or higher.

Administrator Garin added that the production of FCCNO will contribute significantly to making the island self-reliant since coconut is abundant in the place instead of using diesel fuel. The use of FCCNO as bio-fuel is more advantageous since it will: provide income to the farmers by selling copra to the plant, they will have electricity in every household and also copra meal for use as feeds.