OneNews.ph
In the midst of grappling with the challenges and limitations of our pandemic-gripped world, Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is moving forward by striving to create exponential positive impact for its stakeholders and for the planet.
As the problem of climate change and its manifestations are expected to worsen to such a degree that no single entity or company can solve this problem, EDC chairman and chief executive officer Federico Lopez said businesses need “to elevate everything they touch—their customers, employees, suppliers, contractors, the environment, communities, and, of course, their investors.”
He added that the urgency of the problem requires “all of us to go beyond incremental sustainability and transform into regenerative forces that align our profit engines with the need for a better world and a safer planet.”
This pushed the Lopez group to launch a new mission last year: “To forge collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future,” which recognizes the urgency of mankind’s grim situation in a planet that continues to accumulate more heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
“Our updated Mission statement is a short yet powerful phrase that’s now at the center of everything we do. It’s founded on principles that have been guiding our actions in the past and is now shaping the way we reimagine and redesign our businesses for the future,” Lopez said.
Part of the measures EDC advocates for to meet its group mission is to partner with entities that have the same worldview.
“Our goal is to collaborate with like-minded companies, organizations, and individuals that share a genuine commitment to inclusive growth and environmental restoration so we can all go beyond sustainability and do more together,” EDC CSR-Public Relations head Allan V. Barcena said.
Decarbonizing our economy through Geo 24/7
EDC is the 100% renewable arm of the Lopez group and the country’s leading renewable energy company, with Geo 24/7 at the heart of its push for a decarbonized and regenerative future.
Geo 24/7 is its own brand of geothermal energy that provides an uninterrupted supply of green and baseload RE all year round to electricity consumers from distribution utilities to businesses in a way that elevates society and the environment.
Given the unprecedented times we are living in, Barcena pointed out the “paradigm shifts in the ways that we think, live, and do business.”
“Nowhere is this need for paradigm shift more urgent than in the energy business—a business that contributes a lot to global warming and climate change. To help reverse global warming, RE sources must play a massive role in the energy business. They have to replace a lot of carbon-intensive power plants,” Barcena said.
To decarbonize the energy sector, the company is in the market to urge companies, industries, and consumers to shift to RE.
“Shifting to EDC’s Geo 24/7 will enable contestable customers to become among the company’s regenerative partners who power their business better through clean, reliable, cost-competitive RE and enjoy value-added services that include participation in EDC’s environmental and regenerative projects,” Barcena said.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has been implementing various programs to green the power grid, like the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA), and soon the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP).
Through GEOP and RCOA, consumers are empowered and given a choice to go green with their power supply. They enable contestable or retail electricity customers of average power consumption, to choose their own source and directly purchase it from power generators with Retail Electricity Supplier and GEOP licenses.
“This allows contestable customers to also lower their carbon footprint for their business or institution and at the same time, lower their electricity cost. We see geothermal players as well as other RE players gearing up to become retail-ready and be able to offer this option to customers,” Barcena said.
Elevating our environment through BINHI
Beyond the push to shift to alternative energy sources, EDC’s collaborative partnerships also include the propagation of Philippine native tree species through BINHI and through various initiatives that uplift our stakeholders and communities.
In 2008, EDC through the initiative of its Chairman Emeritus Oscar M. Lopez, leveled up its reforestation program when it launched its BINHI greening legacy program to bridge forest gaps and bring back to abundance 96 of our threatened Philippine native tree species.
“Since then, EDC has already reforested close to 10,000 hectares in its geothermal areas, with over six million BINHI seedlings planted,” Barcena said.
“With EDC’s massive reforestation efforts through our BINHI program, EDC has become a carbon negative company, meaning we absorb more carbon dioxide than our entire operations emit,” he said.
“Our carbon emissions are about 865,652 tonnes equivalent and we sequester about 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year based on our 0.1 tCO2/MWh carbon intensity through the forestlands inside our geothermal reservations,” Barcena said.
BINHI through the lush forests that are nurtured then helps cool down our planet’s temperature and at the same time recharges the geothermal reservoirs, which provide steam to power up EDC’s Geo 24/7.
“By maintaining and even regenerating our forests, we ensure the longevity of our geothermal reservoirs which have been powering our country for almost 40 years,” Barcena said.
Aside from helping others shift to clean and affordable energy, EDC’s collaborative partnerships are taking various forms designed not only for the benefit of the environment but of people.
“In this pandemic, we work together (collaborate) with our sister companies – First Balfour, First Philippine Industrial Park, Rockwell Land, and First Philec – and with outside stakeholders in delivering projects to control the spread of COVID-19. These include donations and services for constructing testing machines, centers, and quarantine facilities to help build the resilience of our partner communities and local government units,” Barcena said.
Indeed, in every crisis lies an opportunity. In the case of EDC, it’s about doing business in a way that helps provide the solution to climate change and our pandemic through regenerative and renewable Geo 24/7 energy.
The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is a pioneer in generating 100% clean, renewable, and reliable power as an electricity supplier in the Philippines for over 40 years. With power plants all over Visayas and Mindanao, the company is one of the biggest producers of geothermal energy in Asia and is expanding its reach in the international market, allowing it to offer customers affordable energy rates. EDC also strives to provide the best customer service it can to all its clients by having helpful salespeople and easy to understand contracts. Because of all of this, it is poised to become the premier supplier of electricity for the Philippines’ Green Energy Option Program. EDC takes its mission as a renewable energy provider seriously and goes beyond sustainability by investing in programs that enhance the environment and empower its partner communities, thereby fostering regenerative development. The company has also been working toward being carbon-neutral by improving its energy efficiency, as well as implementing various greening projects to ensure that its mission to provide future generations with a better life remains intact.