Lopez firm inks pact with Climargy for business solutions

By Myrna M. Velasco

Lopez-led energy solutions provider Pi Energy and specialist investment and development firm Climargy Inc. will be cementing another pioneering pathway in the institutionalization of energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C) projects that will aid businesses in managing not just their energy usage but in reducing their carbon footprints for a safer and longer lasting planet.

The landmark deal between the two sustainable solutions trailblazer-firms had been designed “to remove massive amounts of excess, heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and help businesses save on cost.”

The agreement was officially sealed last December 9 between Pi Energy Chairman Federico R. Lopez and Climargy President Alexander Ablaza. The partnership has been classified as “a rare contract in Southeast Asia between two energy developers that focus specifically on developing EE&C solutions mainly for commercial and industrial (C&I) companies.”

The Lopez group is the country’s undisputed champion when it comes to pursuing clean energy installations as well as in its offer of green solutions to consumers; while Ablaza has always been taking the lead for energy efficient choices and practices for businesses; as well as for the lifestyle changes and preferences of Filipino consumers.

Through that strategic partnership, Pi Energy and Climargy are targeting to “jointly develop a portfolio of EE&C projects, aimed at reducing electricity usage of client-companies by 1 terawatt-hour” -- and that is seen resulting in potential cost savings of P7.5 billion through year 2040.

Pi Energy, which is a subsidiary of First Philippine Holdings Corporation of the Lopez conglomerate, also noted that the EE&C collaboration “provides a wider platform to support the Lopez group’s mission of forging collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future.”

With that landmark covenant, Lopez enthused that “energy efficiency is the low-hanging fruit for decarbonization efforts and should be viewed as the first fuel that any economy must grant ‘priority dispatch’ before it optimizes traditional fossil fuels and renewable energy sources.”

He qualified that EE&C is “the least cost option and fastest means to increase available energy capacities and abate greenhouse gas emissions.”

Lopez acknowledged though that “energy efficiency is fairly new in the region, so this partnership will be trailblazing in the support and financing of energy conservation.”

In his assessment, once EE&C solutions’ application will be in full play, “it brings us closer to that re-imagined and re-designed world that we often speak of with all the attendant benefits to businesses, consumers, energy producers, the economy and the environment.”

In Ablaza’s view, this new Pi Energy-Climargy undertaking is classically labeled a “unique partnership”, primarily because “this is the first in Asia, if not in all emerging markets around the globe.”

He conveyed “it is still quite rare that energy developers team up to execute a business partnership dedicated to EE&C project assets across multiple ESCOs (energy service companies) and multiple end-users.”

Ablaza further stated “in partnership with the Lopez group, Climargy knows that we are rolling out a game-changer for EE&C markets.”