Globe Telecom Inc. is piloting the use of hybrid power alternative sources for cell towers in off-grid and bad-grid sites in northern and southern Luzon and Metro Manila.
The company said in a statement this will enable it to reduce its operational greenhouse gas emissions as it utilizes different technologies including a hybrid power plant or a mini-grid system.
Such options also often contain a renewable energy (RE) component like a solar photovoltaic system supported by a second form of generator or storage such as a diesel genset and a battery storage system.
These likewise use advanced solar hybrid generator sets which use solar power as an initial power source before shifting to the battery and diesel genset.
The company said initial results of the pilot test indicate an average of 50 percent reduction in diesel genset runtime, which greatly reduces fuel consumption and its associated carbon emissions. This bodes well for the rural areas where the technology was deployed as they currently use diesel gensets due to limited or lack of access to a stable power supply.
Globe said augmenting energy requirements with RE increases site uptime and ensures the availability of continuous backup power during times of disasters, besides reducing costs from energy consumption and operations and maintenance in cell sites.
“The shift to hybrid power is part of Globe’s climate action strategy. We continue to move towards decarbonizing our operations in support of the company’s commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” Yoly Crisanto, Globe chief sustainability and corporate communications officer, said in a statement.
To date, Globe said it has 14 key facilities running on 100 percent RE with over 8,500 green network solutions, such as fuel cell systems, direct current hybrid generators, free cooling systems and lithium-ion batteries, deployed to achieve energy and resource efficiency in cell sites.
In 2019, Globe started its decarbonization journey by buying renewable energy bundled with verified carbon offsets through Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) aligned with the Philippines’ policy on renewable energy.
These solutions use cleaner fuel with lower emissions, consume less diesel fuel, and provide energy-efficient heat removal.
This is in line with Globe’s support for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG No. 9, which highlights the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development, and UN SDG No. 13, which seeks urgent action against climate change and its impacts.
Globe is the first and only Philippine publicly-listed company listed by the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) to commit to set science-based targets aligned with the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. It is also a participant in the Race to Zero UN-backed global campaign rallying non-state actors to halve global emissions by 2030 and deliver a healthier, fairer zero-carbon world by 2050.
In 2021, it also committed to supporting the framework set by the globally-recognized Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and vowed to abide by its recommendations for effective climate-related disclosures.
