HOLCIM Philippines eyes to source all of its power supply from renewable energy (RE) by 2030.
Samuel Manlosa, Holcim Philippines senior vice president and concurrent chief sustainability officer and head of geocycle, in an interview Wednesday the company in August tapped First Gen Corp.’s geothermal plant in North Cotabato to meet 22 percent of the power needs of the cement manufacturer’s facilities in Bunawan, Davao City and Lugait, Misamis Oriental.
“We are looking at other opportunities, but in the meantime… We are heavily looking at solar.
So, there’s a roadmap that all four of our cement plants needs to have their own dedicated solar farm. In the meantime, while working on those contracts, we already have rooftop solar installations of around 2 to 4 megawatts (MW),” Manlosa said.
“But in the next two years, there will be a significant shift, (we will pursue) at least 50 percent of the sourcing to a solar farm that can do 10, 12 up to 15 MW depending on the size of the plant.
Our goal is fully renewable before 2030,” Manlosa added.
Last April, Holcim Philippines announced a P2 billion investment allocation for projects involving waste recycling and RE.
Manlosa said Holcim has a P270 million waste management facility in La Union currently under construction which is part of efforts for the company’s strategy to diversify fuel sources.
“…About 40 percent of our production is heavily dependent on fuel costs. In February 2022, when Ukraine-Russia war started, price of fuels went up like six times at least, from $70 per ton to $450 per ton overnight. We realized that from a business standpoint, you are very vulnerable,” Manlosa said.
“We’ve realized the way to move forward is to transition away from traditional fuels as much as we can. One of the big things in my plate today is developing a strategy for a very quick transition from coal to other types of locally available fuels like waste,” Manlosa further said.
Holcim Philippines is one of the country’s largest construction materials providers with four cement manufacturing plants, aggregates and dry mix businesses as well as technical support facilities for building solutions.
Since 2018, Holcim Philippines has reduced its carbon footprint by more than 20 percent by producing more blended cements, replacing coal with qualified wastes as alternative fuels and raw materials, shifting to RE and improving efficiency of operations.