PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. partnered with First Gen Corp. for the supply of renewable energy (RE) from geothermal power plants worth a total of 3.7 megawatts (MW).
Under the partnership, First Gen will supply electricity from RE to seven of PLDT and Smart’s facilities in Visayas located in Cebu, Samar, Capiz and Iloilo.
The facilities will source their renewable energy supply from First Gen through Energy Development Corp.
“This geothermal switch will allow us to save around P27 million in electricity costs on an annual basis for our seven facilities in the Visayas. This will also support our broader decarbonization roadmap and will enable us to reduce our emissions by about 16 thousand tons this year, which amounts to 26 percent of our total target emissions reduction for 2023,” said Melissa Vergel de Dios, PLDT and Smart chief sustainability officer, first vice president and head of investor relations, in a statement.
First Gen said the companies are also considering to further expand the use of geothermal energy for more of their sites across the Philippines, including data centers.
Last year, PLDT and Smart launched a decarbonization roadmap which targets to reduce scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 to cover the transition to renewable energy and green technology solutions to power up their network facilities, data centers and operational sites across the country.
