Sanyo Denki Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of Japanese multinational firm Sanyo Denki Co. Ltd., tapped First Gen Corp. to supply 100-percent renewable energy (RE) to its manufacturing facilities at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales.
Under a recently signed agreement, First Gen will supply Sanyo Denki Philippines 5,500 kilowatts of electricity from a geothermal power plant that First Gen subsidiary Energy Development Corp. owns and operates in Negros Oriental.
First Gen will provide clean and renewable power to run all four manufacturing facilities of Sanyo Denki Philippines, and its technology center at the Subic Technopark inside the Subic Bay Special Economic Zone. The agreement forms part of the long-term program of Sanyo Denki to shift all its production sites to RE.
“Shifting a 24/7 operation to RE and rationalizing power consumption are challenges for manufacturing firms. It is our privilege to help enable and advise them on to take the next steps towards a more sustainable future for their operations. We look forward to continuing the journey with Sanyo Denki Philippines and continue to integrate more RE and energy efficiency solutions into their facilities,” said First Gen chief engagement officer Carlo Vega.
First Gen, along with its sister company Pi Energy Inc., will also provide Sanyo Denki Philippines with a remote energy monitoring system that will enable it to see on real-time basis its power consumption, thereby helping the company to rationalize and optimize power costs.
“We are pleased to start our partnership with First Gen which we believe is the best way to achieve our goal of using more renewable energy in our production, especially in light of our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. We also believe it is our obligation to provide our customers with products that are produced using renewable energy,” said Hirokazu Takeuchi, president and chief executive of Sanyo Denki Philippines.
Founded in 2000, Sanyo Denki Philippines manufactures uninterruptible power supply devices, photovoltaic inverters, AC servo motors, AC servo amplifiers and stepping motors. Its Philippine manufacturing site is the main production site of Sanyo Denki DC cooling fans.
First Gen has 1,651 megawatts (MW) of installed RE capacity from 28 solar, wind, hydro and geothermal power plants.
First Gen has another 2,017 MW of capacity from four other power plants that run on natural gas, a bridge fuel that offers flexible power generation and positioned to support the introduction of more RE projects in the country.
The 3,668-MW combined capacity of these First Gen power plants helps assure the country’s energy security.
