CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Nestlé Philippines Inc. said Tuesday it signed a 15-year agreement with Cagayan Electric Power and Light Corp. and Mindanao Energy Systems for the supply of renewable electricity to its Cagayan de Oro factory.
Nestle Philippines reached a milestone in its roadmap towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions with the full transition of its Cagayan de Oro factory to RE, thus achieving 100-percent RE use in all its factories.
This meant that popular Nestlé brands like NESCAFÉ and Bear Brand would now be made at its factory in Cagayan de Oro, with an annual capacity of 160,000 tons using RE from MINERGY’s 9-megawatt Cabulig hydro plant.
Other Nestle Philippines factories in Luzon, including two in Batangas (Tanauan and Lipa) and two in Laguna (Canlubang and Cabuyao), are now also supplied by renewable electricity.
Cepalco is a privately-owned distribution utility whose franchise area covers Cagayan de Oro and the municipalities of Tagoloan, Villanueva and Jasaan in Misamis Oriental. MINERGY was established by Cepalco as an independent power producer.
“One focus area of our net zero commitments is to transform our operations to reduce our carbon footprint. With that, a priority task for us has been to fully convert our electricity power source to renewable electricity. Today, we are happy to complete that task with our Cagayan de Oro factory to renewable electricity,” said Nestle Philippines chairman and chief executive Kais Marzouki.
He said the company’s full transition to full renewable electricity, starting with its Luzon facilities in 2016, was once considered too ambitious.
“But it has been completed two years early, because of the dedication and perseverance of our Nestlé Philippines team, with the indispensable support and participation of our partners, especially the Department of Energy, the Cagayan de Oro City government, and those of you in the private sector. This milestone is equally yours, because you have made it possible,” Marzouki said.
Cepalco and MINERGY assured Nestle Philippines of reliable power supply from its Cabulig mini-hydro power plant in Misamis Oriental.
Cepalco is looking at putting up another mini-hydro power plant at the lower portion of the Cabulig mini-hydro which will have a capacity of another 9 MW to 10 MW to address Nestle Philippines’ future electricity demand.
Marzouki said Nestle Philippines is determined to fulfill its net zero commitments in striving to make a difference for the environment as the Kasambuhay for Good of Filipinos.
The company looks forward to continuing the work of tackling climate change with other like-minded stakeholders, he said.