JG Summit Holding’s vision to “Make life better for every Filipino” is increasingly being manifested through its conglomerate-wide sustainability projects, ensuring JG Summit and its business units use resources responsibly and leave a better world for future generations.
At the recent URC Sustainability Summit organized by Universal Robina Corporation, one of the largest branded consumer food and beverage product companies in the Philippines, URC Chairman Lance Y. Gokongwei remarked, “Running a truly sustainable business is a must. It’s not anymore a nice-to-have, but rather a necessary component of a well-run business.”
One way the company is pushing its sustainability agenda forward is through the installation of a one-megawatt solar power rooftop plant in URC’s Canlubang factory in Laguna.
The solar panels will cover an area of 10,000 sq.m. on the rooftop of the main production building, and will be operational from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Upon completion, the panels are designed to produce an average of 4,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean electrical energy every 10 hours.
The project should bring the carbon footprint of the Canlubang plant down significantly. Using 2016 figures, the plant generates 19,562 tons of greenhouse gases each year, mostly from its electricity requirements of 13.88M kWh/year, which contributed 8,747 tons to the total, and its coal use (which contributed 7,387 tons). The solar panels will be able to supply 10% of the current electricity requirement, or around 1.4 kWh/year (based on a supply of 120,000 kWh/month or 4,000 kWh/day). This, in turn, will reduce the level of CO2 produced in a day to 2,520 kg., equivalent to a reduction of 900 tons of CO2 in a year.
Besides the obvious environmental benefits, the use of solar panels will prove cost effective in the long-term. In theory, the company can save approximately 9 million pesos on energy costs each year, which doesn’t yet include air-conditioning costs. As the solar panels absorb the heat of the sun, the temperature in the production facility below is expected to decrease by 4?C, leading to projected savings of 12% on air-conditioning costs, approximately 500,000 pesos. Minus the target maintenance cost of 600,000 per year, the solar panels will save the company just over P8,900,000 each year at the Canlubang facility.
The project will be undertaken with the assistance of Urbasolar Philippines Corporation, a joint venture between Urbasolar France and a group of Filipino investors led by Roque Tordesillas. Urbasolar Philippines is a solar power developer engaged in the design, construction, operation, and investment in industrial and utility scale solar power projects.
Following the solar panel installation in Canlubang, URC is implanting other solar projects in other facilities, bringing the company closer to achieving its long-term sustainability targets.
For more information on URC and its products, visit www2.urc.com.ph
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