Coca-Cola Beverages PHL completes 14K solar panel project in manufacturing plants

Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBPI), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the country, said Tuesday it has completed the installation of 14,000 solar panels in its manufacturing plants.

The solar panels were installed in CCBPI’s plants in Davao del Sur, Misamis Oriental, and Bacolod.

The project is part of the company’s further integration of renewable energy into its operations, it said in a statement.

CCBPI said another multi-phased solar panel project is underway that covers four more sites namely Canlubang, Sta. Rosa, Zamboanga, and Cebu with 2022 as a target deadline.

The company said it is pursuing a 24,000 solar panel project, with the total capacity to produce a maximum of 9.4 megawatts.

“More projects are in the pipeline— two plants in North Luzon and the Visayas are being assessed for renewable energy integration,” CCBPI said.

Energy efficiency is one of the company’s strategic investment areas.

“Efforts to further integrate renewable energy (RE) into its operations are part of CCBPI’s Cleaner Energy 2.0 initiative—a roadmap toward becoming a leader in clean energy use and energy use ratio in Southeast Asia by 2023,” it said.

Even with the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, CCBPI said it steadily poured in investments—an initial $63 million for 2021 and $95 million in 2020.

To date, the company said that as much as 65% of its total energy consumption is sourced from renewable and clean energy, which are geothermal, solar, and biomass resources.

The company’s two mega plants, Canlubang and Sta. Rosa in Laguna, were the first to utilize renewable energy in 2018.

It said that all of Coca-Cola’s manufacturing sites that are viable to be converted to 100% renewable energy—given the existing grid and connectivity infrastructure—have been transitioned to use clean energy.

These sites are Sta. Rosa, Canlubang, Ilocos, (Calasiao) Pangasinan, Cebu, San Fernando in Pampanga, and Meycauayan.

“Organizations of our scale need to consciously and deliberately manage our environmental impact. By placing sustainability at the core of our operations, we are able to demonstrate that growing a successful business through sound and responsible enterprise strategies is highly achievable,” said Gareth McGeown, president and CEO of CCBPI.

“We are increasing the volume of our production and maintaining the quality of our beverages, hand-in-hand with hitting our sustainability goals,” he said.—AOL, GMA News