Nestle (Thai), a consumer goods manufacturer and marketer, plans to focus more on clean energy for its operations, working with the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) as its trade and energy partner.
Nestle, Egat and Innopower Co, an energy innovation firm, signed an agreement to make full use of renewable power under the second phase of the ERC sandbox, overseen by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Innopower is a subsidiary of Ratch Group Plc and Electricity Generating Plc, both subsidiaries of Egat.
Peer-to-peer power trade, energy storage system development and smart grids, and distributed power generation systems are key developments in the sandbox.
Nestle (Thai) decided to buy electricity from Egat’s five hydropower plants across Thailand to run its ice cream production facility in Bangkok’s Min Buri district.
The hydropower plants are 560-megawatt Bhumibol Dam, 43MW Naresuan mini-hydropower plant, 6MW Chao Phraya mini-hydropower plant, 30MW Kwae Noi Bumrung Dan mini-hydropower plant and 12MW Mae Klong mini-hydropower plant.
Victor Seah, chief executive of Nestle Indochina Group, said the company aims to achieve a net-zero target within 2050.
The net-zero campaign refers to efforts to a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption.
The collaboration with Egat will pave the way for Nestle to use 100% renewable power within 2025, said Mr Seah.
“As a global leader of consumer goods, our ice cream factory will be Nestle’s first consumer product run on renewable energy,” said Mr Seah.
Egat is also interested in Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), which can help the government cut carbon dioxide emissions.
REC is an economic incentive aimed at encouraging power plant owners to produce electricity from clean fuels.
Each REC, which certifies the bearer generates one megawatt-hour (MWh) from renewable energy resources, can be traded as an energy commodity.
The five dams, run by Egat, are all registered under the Netherlands-based International REC Standard, which certifies power plants participating the REC scheme.
