Pepsi to set up nationwide network of RE plants

SINGAPORE — Pepsi Cola Products Philippines Inc. will put up a nationwide network of renewable energy facilities to be used in its operations in the Philippines, a ranking company executive said.

In an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the Clean Energy Expo Asia 2010 here, Pepsi Phils commercial director Rendentor Gabinete said they are currently implementing “Project Power Play” which seeks to set up power, steam carbon dioxide facilities in all its manufacturing plants using renewable sources of energy.

He said they will employ the build-operate-transfer (BOT) business model so that there will be no capital investment on the part of Pepsi, and payments will be based on minimum off-takes. Significant savings equivalent to an average of 20 percent of its current cost, can be derived from such a project, he added.

Gabinete said the power plants would mostly consist of biomass facilities and will be located in La Union, Pampanga, Muntinlupa, Naga, Cebu, Bacolod, Leyte, Iloilo, Zamboanga, Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

The Pepsi official said they expect these power facilities, with a total capacity of 15 megawatts (MW), to be constructed within the next two to three years.

He said these projects represent the new face of corporate social responsibility (CSR), now known as social engineering and environmental entrepreneurship.

Earlier, Japanese-backed Solutions Using Renewable Energy Inc. (SURE) partnered with Pepsi for the installation of a state-of-the-art and environment-friendly power facility.

This agreement will support the softdrink maker’s program to assure a steady supply of cheap electricity and fight global warming. SURE would construct inside the bottling company’s complex in Rosario, La Union a 1.2-MW, rice husk- and wood chip-fired cogeneration power plant at a cost of $2.7 million.

Once completed in January 2011, the project will mark the first time that a soft drink bottling plant in the country will integrate a green cogeneration power facility in its complex.

SURE is a Philippine firm with the widest portfolio of local renewable energy projects. Its projects include the biggest integrated waste-to-energy project in Vietnam. 

Pepsi Cola Philippines, one of the biggest softdrink companies in the country, operates 11 production facilities spread around the country.

SURE spokesman Clarence de Guia said the cogeneration project for Pepsi Philippines earlier earned an award from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as one of two clean energy investment opportunities in the country that show the most promising prospect.

According to De Guia, Pepsi Philippines now taps two sources of electricity for its La Union bottling complex. The Luzon grid provides the bottling complex’s main supply of electricity, while a diesel-fired generator, which consumes 620,000 liters of bunker fuel a year, produces steam for cleaning softdrink bottles. 

“The cogeneration power plant will replace both existing sources of electricity of Pepsi Philippines‘ La Union production line, while cutting down by 20 percent the facility’s expenses for electricity and steam production,” De Guia said.  

Unlike a conventional power generator, which produces only electricity, a cogeneration plant allows the production of heat and electricity in one single process.

“The use of rice husk and wood chip will translate to the avoidance of 2.7 million liters of fossil fuel equivalent per year,” De Guia added. “The avoided fossil fuel would have spewed into the atmosphere more than 3,000 tons per year of carbon emissions.”