Philippine telecommunications company, PLDT, and its wireless unit, Smart Communications (Smart), announced on Monday that they are expanding their partnership with renewable energy producer, First Gen.
The goal is to enable six network facilities in Mindanao to run on 100% renewable energy. One of the facilities in Mindanao making the switch to renewable energy is PLDT Ponciano, a regional facility that also houses Vitro Davao—the first data center in Davao City established by Vitro, a subsidiary of ePLDT and the data center arm of the PLDT group.
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GHG and Operational Savings
This move makes the Davao facility the first Vitro data center to be powered entirely by renewable energy. By transitioning these six Mindanao facilities to renewable energy, PLDT and Smart Communications expect to save approximately PHP 23 million (around USD 407,000) in energy and operational costs annually.
This shift is also projected to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by almost 13,000 tons per year, aligning with PLDT and Smart's decarbonization roadmap to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 40% by 2030, based on a 2019 baseline. This initiative in Mindanao follows a previous partnership between PLDT, Smart, and First Gen; together, the entities utilized geothermal energy sources for network facilities in Cebu, Samar, Capiz, and Iloilo.
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Renewable Energy at the Forefront
Leo Gonzales, PLDT's VP and Sector Head for Property and Facilities, highlighted the importance of increasing the renewable energy component in critical facilities to reduce operational expenses and support the government's Green Energy Option Program.
Melissa V. Vergel de Dios, PLDT's first VP, Chief Sustainability Officer, and Head of Investor Relations, shared that the PLDT Group plans to incorporate more renewable energy sources like geothermal, solar, and wind into its energy mix. The company aims to transition additional facilities in Greater Metro Manila to renewable energy by the end of the year after signing a deal with ACEN Renewable Energy Solutions in March.
First Gen, a unit under the Lopez-owned First Philippine Holdings Corporation, is the largest producer of renewable energy in the Philippines. The company operates 26 facilities that generate power through solar, hydro, wind, and geothermal sources. First Gen produced over 8,000 GW hours of renewable energy in 2023, primarily from geothermal sources.
Carlo Vega, VP for Power Marketing, Trading, and Economics at First Gen, stated that the company is investing over USD 2 billion to increase generating capacity and aims to expand total renewable energy capacity to 7,500 MW by 2030. This expansion will support the Philippine government's goal to raise renewable energy capacity from 22% to 35% by 2030.
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