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Visayas-based carmaker, sugar miller shift to RE

GAMECHANGER (From left) The manufacturing plants of Victorias Milling Company, located in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, and NKC Manufacturing Philippines Corp. in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, are now ready to utilize renewable energy in their operations. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BY LENDER C. DOMINGO

MANILA (November 18)—Shifting to renewable energy (RE) under the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Green Energy Option Program (GEOP), two Visayas-based firms tapped Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower), through its retail electricity supply company Advent Energy Inc., to run their manufacturing plants on Cleanergy.

Abigail Tomas, AboitizPower assistant vice president for public relations, said these are the factories of car builder NKC Manufacturing Philippines Corp. in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, and sugar producer Victorias Milling Company (VMC) in Victorias City, Negros Occidental.

“They will now run on Cleanergy, which is AboitizPower’s renewable energy solutions brand that supplies communities and businesses with power derived from run-of-river, large hydro, solar and geothermal,” Tomas added.

“Using reliable and responsibly-sourced energy from Advent Energy is important in our business operations,” Norihiko Matsuda, NKC president, said.

He added that they want to do their part in creating a safer world where “families can enjoy the products we put to life.”

“We are confident that having AboitizPower as a supplier paves the way for NKC to go full speed with this direction,” Matsuda said.

According to VMC president Minnie Chua, shifting to renewable energy to run their bioethanol plant is a way to help the company achieve its sustainability goals.

She said the VMC hopes to positively impact the wider ecological system by using energy-saving technology and minimizing energy consumption, carbon emissions and pollution.

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“As a sustainable enterprise, our company undertakes environmentally responsible practices within our business and promotes these across our supply chain and surrounding environment,” Chua added.

Sandro Aboitiz, AboitizPower senior vice president for commercial operations, has expressed support for the government’s GEOP and welcomes the market’s positive response to the program as it drives the company to continue its momentum in reaching a 50:50 balance in its generation portfolio.

According to the Department of Energy (DoE), the GEOP empowers consumers with the option to source renewable energy from a licensed supplier as opposed to consuming what is supplied by the distribution utility in their area.

The program also promotes the use of renewable energy to increase the share of clean energy in the country’s generation mix.

“We support the GEOP initiative of the DoE as it gives customers the freedom to choose renewable energy in meeting their energy requirements and their own energy supplier,” Aboitiz said.

And more importantly, he added, the GEOP allows end-users to play an active part in reducing environmental impact and safeguarding the future of generations to come.