Shell boosts ‘green solutions’ in mobility stations

By MYRNA M. VELASCO

As a fundamental component of its mid-century net zero goal for the planet’s preservation, Shell Philippines has been scaling up the integration of sustainable and green solutions through continued expansion of its mobility stations nationwide.

According to Randolph T. Del Valle, vice president for Mobility of Pilipinas Shell, the company already has 132 mobility stations in its retail portfolio that had shifted energy use to solar, which it will pursue to ensure further growth.

The differentiating approach the company has been employing now is "embedding the solar installation design" in the development of planned 40 to 60 annual stations.

“All the new sites that we’re building, they have solar panels – we’re actually adding solar panels...it’s already embedded in the way we build or renovate sites,” he said.

In terms of savings on energy cost at its mobility stations with solar installations, Del Valle noted that the average cost reduction in electric bills typically hovers at around 30-percent.

“Our retailers who are operating our sites know how to make sure that the solar installations work, so we’re really monitoring the savings in terms of electricity and the carbon offsets that we get out of it,” he added.

Del Valle emphasized that the siting of the new renewable energy-powered mobility stations are set strategically across high traffic areas and flourishing urban centers all over the country – including Metro Manila and the neighboring provinces of Pampanga, Bulacan, Cavite and even Batangas; as well as Cebu in the Visayas; then Davao and Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao.

“For mobility, we’re building around 40 to 60 sites – that’s our commitment that we’re building up to 2025. Every time we grow, we’re not just growing more mobility offers. We always say that we’re not just a gas station but a mobility destination – we have fuels, we have Shell Select, we have Helix oil change facility, car wash as co-locators. And what we’re doing there is: from the design and offers’ perspective, we need to make sure that there is a low carbon solution,” the Shell executive stressed.

Shell Energy Philippines General Manager and President Bernd Krukenberg opined that solar rooftop is deemed as a more sustainable option because this will not be competing for land use that could have otherwise been better allotted for food production.

The integration of green solutions at Shell mobility stations, Del Valle specified, is also being passed on as a barometer of operations efficiency that their partner-retailers will have to adhere to – and to ensure that their customers will benefit from that value proposition.

Apart from powering its mobility stations with solar, Shell has likewise been assimilating other green solutions into its retail network. This includes the use of ecobricks for panels and walls; the installation of LED (light emitting diode) lights, deployment of inverter technologies; setting up rain water catchments; and eventually electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at its sites.

On the broader net zero aspiration onward to 2050, Shell Philippines President and CEO Lorelie Quiambao-Osial conveyed that the all-inclusive strategy of the multinational energy giant is “we measure it globally - we have standards in terms of how we measure it; and we’re also doing that for the Philippines.”

She further explained that “it is evolving how you measure different things -- the emissions that you have in terms of the direct emissions and then the indirect emissions. And in terms of the emissions, they’re also happening from your consumers’ and customers’ side.”

Osial qualified “we have a standard. We have a carbon management framework and we have carbon reporting as well, so we follow international standards and we follow industry standards – usually in CO2 (carbon dioxide) equivalent, because you measure CO2 emissions but there are types of gases as well, so there are conversion equivalents.”