PBI now uses 100% renewable energy in its Laguna facilityPhilippine Bio-Industries Inc. (PBI), one of the country’s biggest exporters of refined carrageenan blends, has tapped First Gen Corporation for supply of electricity from a renewable resource as part of PBI’s plan to enhance its sustainability efforts and align them with those of customers overseas.

PBI, through parent firm W Hydrocolloids Inc. (WHI), finalized a one-year contract with First Gen’s licensed retail electricity supplier Bac-Man Geothermal Inc. (BGI) for supply of 650 kilowatts of electricity from a geothermal power plant to energize PBI’s carrageenan production facilities in Calamba, Laguna.

First Gen vice president Carlo Vega said the 150- megawatt Bacon-Manito geothermal power facility in the Bicol region is providing PBI the required power supply. BGI, one of First Gen’s licensed retail electricity suppliers, owns and operates the integrated geothermal facility.

WHI president John Wee said: “With this partnership, we are now using 100% renewable energy in our PBI facility in Laguna and are also in the process of executing it for our Carmona plant facility in Cavite. This partnership aims to achieve our commitment to a sustainable future, from supporting ecological seaweed communities for our raw materials to using 100% eco-clean energy in our plant facilities.

“Our customers abroad, especially those in the EU, are ramping up their respective sustainability programs in support of global efforts to stop the further buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that aggravates man-made climate change.

“We share with our customers their concern about the environment. We aligned ourselves with their efforts by putting in place a stringent environmental protection program to minimize our impact on the environment.”

Vega thanked the WHI Group for accepting First Gen’s offer to shift to renewable energy.

“This partnership validates our optimism that there are thousands of other companies out there that, like WHI, share with us a common desire to pursue a decarbonized and regenerative future,” he said. (Story/Photos by: Joel Gaborni)