Canned food manufacturer Century Pacific Food Inc. (CNPF) said Monday it will expand the capacity of its solar power facility in its largest manufacturing hub in the country.
CPNF said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the operational capacity of solar project in General Santos City, where it produces tuna and coconut products, will increase by 65 percent to 8.6 megawatts (MW) in March from 5.3 MW.
CPNF president and chief executive Teodoro Alexander Po said investing in solar energy enhances the company’s operational resilience and provides environment-friendly solution for power generation.
CNPF’s tuna and coconut facilities predominantly use clean energy sourced from a hydroelectric power plant through the grid.
It commissioned in 2021 its first solar PV plant to double down on its commitment to more sustainable manufacturing practices. It said that as of end-2022, more than 60 percent of the hub’s power requirements were harnessed from clean energy sources.
CNPF said it invested about P380 million since 2021 to build and expand its solar plant, which now features a PV roof solar system operating on-grid.
It said that aside from solar projects, it is also investing in greener energy alternatives for its coconut operations with the commissioning of new biomass boilers.
The new boiler will utilize coconut shells as biomass fuel, converting by-products into energy and eliminating coal usage in the process. This will result in a 36 percent reduction in overall coal consumption across its factory.
“As demand for coconut products soar locally and abroad, our focus is on sustainable practices to mitigate our environmental impact. The expansion of our biomass boilers, utilizing coconut shells from our operations also serves as an eco-friendly substitute for coal, contributing to substantial reductions in carbon emissions,” CPNF vice president Noel Tempongko said.
The company’s operations yield coconut shells as by-products of the deshelling operations for coconut meat and various coconut derivatives such as desiccated coconut, cocomilk, oil and flour.