Originally published on The Philippine Source
QUICK READ: Energy Development Corporation takes part in encouraging the shift to renewable energy as the company forges the path to decarbonization to address the impact of the climate crisis.
With the implementation of the Department of Energy’s Green Energy Option Program (GEOP), qualified clean energy-conscious consumers can now shift to renewable energy in their electricity use.
The Philippines’ renewable energy leader, Energy Development Corp. (EDC), strongly believes the time to shift is now as the country takes on the path to decarbonization and energy transition to arrest the devastating effects of climate change.
“A lot of businesses may now avail of the DOE’s GEOP for consumers with a 100kW demand to directly buy low carbon, renewable energy from licensed green energy providers like EDC,” according to EDC chief financial officer Erwin Avante.
“If the electricity bill of the institution you represent is P180,000 or more, you are likely entitled to shift to competitively priced renewable energy. It’s time you make a choice!” Avante said.
Jay Soriano, First Gen Corporation’s head of strategy and planning, supported this by emphasizing that there are now laws, policies, and programs in place to encourage the construction of new RE plants, for coal plants to more urgently transition to RE, and for eligible electricity consumers to effortlessly shift to renewable energy.
With all these, decarbonizing the grid is certainly well within reach, he said as he urged more awareness on RE Green Convergence Philippines’ recently concluded virtual environmental summit.
“End-consumers banded together, shift the conversation to a bias for RE can have a reverberating effect on the transition to a RE-dominated economy,” Soriano said.
By buying products from companies like Unilever Philippines, Bounty Fresh, Globe, Mondelez Philippines, and other brands that already source power from RE, the public joins the call to patronize environmentally-responsible companies.
He said environmentally-responsible individuals can help nudge other brands who have yet to commit to RE to make the switch and move towards a net-zero future.
Soriano said consumers can even support candidates who choose and fully support renewable energy this coming election.
By doing so, stakeholders and the public will attract like-minded people to more proactively voice out their support for RE.
“Through a unified, cohesive voice, we can all be enablers of our country’s transition to RE. By using our voices, we can work together to forge collaborative pathways with the government, with the financial and energy industry, and with all electricity consumers for a decarbonized future for our country,” he said.
Soriano said the good news is that more institutions around the world are already part of the race towards greening the planet “as they continue to recognize the reality behind the science of climate change and that saying no to coal is paramount.
In May last year, the G7, composed of the world’s seven largest advanced economies, agreed to stop funding coal projects by the end of last year and to phase out support for all fossil fuels, to meet globally agreed climate change targets.
He said more global banks, insurers, pension funds, and asset managers are expected to have new or expanded coal exit policies as demand rises, and the world continues to heat up.
Meanwhile, Avante lauded companies such as Arthaland, Drink Communications, First Balfour, Knowles, Silliman University, and Unilever that joined EDC in the Net Zero Carbon Alliance, a community that is on the same journey towards carbon neutrality.
“The alliance aims to create ripples of positive impact through pockets of excellence that collectively help heal our planet,” Avante said.
Officials said EDC is the top choice as a clean energy provider. The company generates energy from close to 1,500 MW of purely renewable energy facilities across the country, 1,181 MW of which is baseload geothermal.
“As the Philippines’ premier renewable energy company and the world’s largest integrated geothermal producer, we take pride in providing the country an energy source that is reliable and environmentally responsible,” Soriano said.
EDC is a majority Filipino-owned company and the largest vertically integrated geothermal company in the world. The firm is also the largest pure-play renewable energy company in the Philippines in terms of energy production.
“We energize roughly 1 out of 11 light bulbs in the country, all from renewable sources. Apart from geothermal, we own the largest wind farm in the Philippines, a 132MW hydro plant, and some utility-scale and rooftop solar across the country,” said Avante.
“As a company, we have a negative carbon footprint as our carbon sink is almost twice the CO2 emissions that we generate in our power plants. We take pride in providing the country a service that is reliable, socially and environmentally responsible,” he said.
Avante said EDC’s BINHI greening legacy is part of the company’s carbon offsetting strategy.
“What started as an initiative to bring back to abundance our threatened Philippine native tree species and bridge forest gaps in our areas of operations over 13 years ago has become the country’s biggest private sector-led forest restoration initiative and is now ready to help our partners achieve their own decarbonization goals,” he said.
To date, EDC has planted 6.5 million trees covering an area of 9,570 hectares, equivalent to the combined size of the cities of Makati, Pasig, San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Pasay.
Visit https://www.energy.com.ph/shift-to-renewable-energy/ to know more about shifting to renewable energy through EDC.
The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is the leading 100% clean, renewable energy company in the Philippines, with over 40 years of experience in geothermal technology. With power plants situated across the country, EDC is the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal company. The company also strives to provide the best customer and value-adding services to all its customers. To learn more about lowering your business’ carbon footprint by shifting to renewable energy, visit energy.com.ph or email [email protected]
