Ayala companies team up to push Net Zero agenda

AC Energy Corp. (ACEN) is teaming up with sister firms including Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) to push the Ayala group’s goal to be a Net Zero business by 2050 by turning their solar and wind farm sites into “Sustainability Hubs.”

Pioneered at the 120-megawatt Alaminos solar farm in Laguna, the hub concept features a plastic waste recycling facility, a carbon sink and a battery energy storage system.

For this pilot site, ALI developed their 133-hectare “Carbon Forest”—a woodland reserve that acts as a carbon trap and home to biodiversity, which surrounds the solar photovoltaic installations.

As a follow through, ACEN and ALI last week signed a power supply agreement tapping the Alaminos solar farm—touted as the first such facility in the country with a battery storage component—for the real estate subsidiary’s electricity needs up to 2050.For the Sustainability Hub, ACEN partnered with Green Antz, which also operates ALI’s plastic recycling facility at the Arca South Ecohub.

A total of 32,540 kg of plastic collected from the solar panel packaging materials in the project construction site, the equivalent of about 25 compact size cars, have been diverted from landfills to be upcycled into eco-bricks and used in building facilities within the plant.

“ACEN commits to being at the forefront of energy transition, working alongside with our partners,” Eric Francia, president of ACEN, said in a statement.

“We are happy to work with Ayala Land on this important initiative that will help the Ayala group achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” Francia said.He added that ACEN intended to recreate the Sustainability Hub within the company’s other project locations.

“We are pleased that this transaction [supply deal] with ACEN enables us to leverage synergies across the Ayala group and provides a platform to advance our net zero goal,” ALI president Bobby Dy said. INQ