Aboitiz Power inks power supply deal with Nestle

Published May 25, 2021, 10:39 AM by Myrna M. Velasco
https://mb.com.ph/2021/05/25/aboitiz-power-inks-power-supply-deal-with-nestle/

Listed firm Aboitiz Power Corporation has inked a new power supply agreement with Nestle Philippines, which calls for the delivery of 24.46 megawatts of capacity to meet the latter’s energy needs.

The supply of power to the multinational food and drink company will cover its factories in Luzon, as well as Nestle’s head office in Makati City, according to Aboitiz Power. No pricing details had been given for that power supply deal.

The capacity purchase helmed under Aboitiz Power’s Cleanergy brand, was concretized within the ambit of the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) policy in the restructured electricity sector.

Juan Alejandro Aboitiz, head of the Commercial Operations Business Unit of Aboitiz Power, emphasized that Nestle’s sourcing of electricity supply from a renewable energy facility will aid it on its ‘net zero’ aspirations.

To become a ‘net zero’ entity, a company shall be able to fully offset its carbon emissions via the green energy solutions it has been leaning on. Although for a food firm like Nestle, the bigger assault they are known to be inflicting on the environment is actually on the use of plastics in their product packaging, hence, this is one area being seriously resolved also on achieving their sustainability agendas.

Still, Aboitiz noted that “through the supply of Cleanergy to Nestle Philippines, we are able to reduce greenhouse gas in the equivalent of 24,736 cars driven in a year, or 12.8 million gallons of gasoline consumed.”

As their new power supply pact is considerably a follow-through of a partnership on such sphere that started in 2013, Aboitiz stated they are looking forward “to continuing this journey with Nestle Philippines in growing their business and helping them achieve their sustainability goals even beyond their need for renewable energy.”

He qualified that net zero targets are being aligned with Aboitiz Power’s portfolio rebalancing in the next 10 years — in which the next round of investments will mainly be on renewables and other clean energy technologies, like gas.

“The company aims for a 50:50 balance between its Cleanergy and thermal capacities by 2030, in an effort to build the country’s renewable energy market and contribute to the global sustainability goals,” Aboitiz reiterated.

To recall, Aboitiz Power’s project installations in recent years had been predominantly coal-fired plants; hence, the targeted RE and liquefied natural gas-fed projects moving forward will provide a counterweight to that.