At the ACEN RES Recharge Partners Gala, ACEN President and CEO Eric Francia affirmed the company's commitment to build more renewable capacity to help meet the growing demand for electricity in the Philippines and urged businesses to shift to renewable energy. (Photo from ACEN RES)
The Philippine economy continues to impress, showing growth despite the many setbacks of the past few years like a global pandemic and natural disasters. Much of this is owed to businesses that instead saw opportunities in these challenges, re-assessed the objective of profit to also include people and the planet, and made adjustments to adapt and even expand.
ACEN Renewable Energy Solutions (ACEN RES), the retail electricity arm of ACEN Corporation, an Ayala company, gathered such innovative disruptors to highlight their tenacity in finding opportunity in adversity, and highlight their wholistic approach to growth, tapping the emerging renewable energy industry to help fuel their businesses.
The ACEN RES Recharge Partner’s Gala gathered the company’s partners in advocating for renewable energy in the Philippines at the Grand Ballroom of Grand Hyatt Manila, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig. This congregation of renewable energy partners honored eight companies that made the shift and hopes to inspire more businesses to realize the benefits of making the switch.
These sustainability-oriented disruptors are the University of San Carlos (Cebu), Pacific Synergy Food and Beverage Corporation, Jotun Philippines, Golden Harvests Rice Mill, Glacier Megafridge Incorporated, EL Laboratories, SeaKing, and Uratex. Together with ACEN RES, these companies are working toward building a future that is not only brighter but also sustainable.
RE Disruptors
“We want to serve customers who are like-minded, who have this same passion for sustainability and renewable energy,” said Eric Francia, President and CEO, ACEN Corporation. They couldn’t have found better partners as the stories of these companies were shared through testimonial videos.
University of San Carlos (Cebu), one of the oldest Catholic universities in the Philippines, is also now among the most progressive. It switched to renewable energy to transform itself into a “green university,” and aligned with Laudato Si, the papal encyclical on environmentalism, ethics, and Christian faith. The university was severely affected by the power outages caused by Typhoon Odette in 2021, and so it sought out a more sustainable and reliable way to continue its operations with the help of ACEN RES.
Pacific Synergy Corporation is the company behind the bottled water brand, “Sip.” Working in the packaged beverage industry already draws lots of flak from critics, and the company addresses these with their sustainability strategy of transitioning to 100% recyclable PETs (Polyethylene Terephthalate) packaging, achieving net-zero plastic, and shifting to renewable energy.
Few companies are more aware of their potential impact on the environment than Jotun Philippines. This Norwegian coatings company is the global leader in marine paints. Critical to its business are its coating products that protect the surfaces of ships and buildings and enhance their structural integrity. More importantly, Jotun’s technologies allow its products to be neutral and not harm our oceans and the environment.
Golden Harvest Rice Mills in Isabela operates in the east of Luzon; an area blessed with fertile land ideal for growing rice and other crops. Unfortunately, with the recent influx of imported rice, natural calamities, and high electricity rates, it has been a challenging time for rice millers and their partner local farmers. With enlightened owners who saw the government’s Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) program as a means to reduce its electricity costs and be sustainable, Golden Harvests sought out a partnership ACEN RES that enabled it to continue to feed the nation as well as support the local farmers that provide this vital food source.
Operating a network of cold storage facilities, it is vital for Glacier Megafridge to constantly monitor and measure its energy use and develop a strategy to make its operations as efficient and cost-effective as possible.
EL Laboratories provides competitively priced, locally produced pharmaceutical products to Filipinos. Already keen to tap renewable energy, the company once considered installing rooftop solar panels but was discouraged by the upfront and maintenance costs. By sourcing its power from ACEN RES instead, the company reaped the benefits of sustainable renewable power without heavy investment.
Frozen seafood brand, SeaKing, requires consistent yet affordable power to process its famous products like deboned milkfish for local supermarkets and sashimi grade seafood for export to Japan. Maintaining cold temperatures in their facilities is critical to ensuring the freshness and high quality of their products. With its renewable source, the company saved on electricity costs.
Synonymous with mattresses and heavy-duty foam products in the Philippines, Uratex continues to offer competitively priced and durable products. It hopes to add sustainable to its reputation thanks to new innovations such as shifting to palm oil and reusing scrap foam. Its production process requires enormous energy, and thanks to its partnership, can assure its clients that it is also sourced as sustainably as its products.
Recognizing forces for good
Besides sharing their stories ACEN RES also honored these companies with tokens of recognition. Presenting them were ACEN COO for Philippine Operations, Miguel de Jesus, and ACEN President and CEO, Eric Francia.
Partners in reducing carbon emission
These are just a few of the hundreds of businesses in Luzon and in the Visayas that ACEN RES supplies through the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP) and the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) program.
GEOP and RCOA are initiatives of the government that allow companies to freely choose their electricity supplier. Customers with an average monthly demand of at least 100 kilowatts may participate in the GEOP provided that 100% of the electric power they contract from their preferred supplier comes only from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and biomass. Customers with an average monthly demand of at least 500 kilowatts are eligible for RCOA and may choose a supplier of electricity and opt for a portion or 100% of their power supply to come from renewable energy sources. ACEN RES is licensed to supply electricity to customers eligible for GEOP or RCOA.
The renewable energy it provides not only returns cost savings and a lower carbon footprint but also encourages the build-up of more renewable energy resources like solar and wind farms, consistent with the country’s policy on energy mix, and a solid contribution to nation-building.
“We are going to continue leading the charge in this renewable energy revolution. We proudly announced our vision to reach 20 gigawatts of renewables by 2030. It’s a bold ambition but we have seen before that, no matter how aspirational we can get, as long as we put our heart into it, things can happen,” said Francia.
ACEN RES makes it easy to make the switch with account managers who walk clients through the switching process. With the goal of achieving 20GW of attributable renewables capacity by 2030, partnering with ACEN RES allows partners to become an enabler of new capacity that helps in nation-building and supports the government program for new supply of renewable energy.
With ACEN RES, achieving energy security while contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions need not be a costly undertaking. Transforming the supply chain for social good simply involves saying “yes” to renewable energy.