Telecommunications giant PLDT Inc. and its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) have expanded renewable energy (RE) capacity sourcing from Lopez-led First Gen Corporation to power additional six of their network facilities.

According to First Gen, a major PLDT facility that will be shifting energy use to RE would be its PLDT Ponciano network, its strategic regional asset in Mindanao that houses in VITRO data center in Davao City.

“This switch will make VITRO Davao the first data center of the telco firm to be powered 100% by RE,” the Lopez firm noted.

PLDT First Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Investor Relations Melissa V. Vergel de Dios indicated that their company would continue to broaden green energy sourcing across geothermal, solar and wind technologies, as part of their energy mix diversification - and the next target will include its Metro Manila facilities.

“Within 2024, the Group expects to transition additional facilities in Greater Metro Manila to RE,” she stressed, adding that “this partnership with First Gen allows us to continue to enable the country’s digital transformation and help narrow the digital divide but in a way that is kind to the planet.”

Carlo Vega, vice president for Power Marketing, Trading and Economics of First Gen, highlighted that both parties “share a common commitment towards decarbonization,” emphasizing that the new power supply deal will support the PLDT group’s “transition to RE, and help make their facilities more energy efficient and sustainable while providing meaningful connectivity to Filipinos.”

Additionally, PLDT Vice President and Sector Head for Property and Facilities Leo Gonzales conveyed that their transformative move of patronizing green technology to power their operations started with four of their sites in the Visayas, hence, the new RE capacity procurement will serve as a reinforcement to that.

“We are once again tapping First Gen’s geothermal energy supply to increase the renewable component of the energy mix of our critical facilities in Mindanao. This enables us to future-proof our facilities, reduce our operational expenses, and support the government’s Green Energy Option Program in the region,” he said.

For the VITRO data center in Davao, in particular, PLDT expounded that this “caters to the business needs of local and foreign enterprises in the region in terms of disaster recovery, security, and business continuity.”

Owing to the PLDT group’s wider sourcing of RE capacity for its Mindanao facilities, the estimated scale of savings could top P23 million; while equivalent greenhouse gas emissions reduction may hover at 13,000 tons annually.

As explained, their clean energy usage is well aligned with PLDT’s decarbonization goal which is anchored on 40% emissions reduction by 2030 (from 2019 baseline); and underpinned by  scopes 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.

It was in May last year when PLDT and Smart took their initial dip into RE supply partnership with First Gen – and that was strategically sourced then from geothermal-generated capacity and fed into its Cebu, Samar, Capiz, and Iloilo network facilities.

Prior to cementing power supply deals with First Gen, De Dios narrated that PLDT first resorted to solar rooftop installations at its Visayas facilities – mainly those covering the Cebu Jones and Mandaue City sites in Cebu; then Roxas, La Paz, Iloilo, and Bacolod.

“The achievement of PLDT and Smart’s decarbonization targets to reduce our environmental footprint depends on the support from like-minded partners such as First Gen, who helps companies transition to renewable energy,” she vouched.