‘EDC regenerative strategy paying off’
BY LENIE LECTURA – MAY 14, 2021
from Business Mirror
Lopez-led Energy Development Corp.’s (EDC) “regenerative” strategy has helped the company create values amid the pandemic, its top official said Thursday.
EDC President Richard Tantoco was referring to various renewable energy (RE) projects lined up in anticipation of post-Covid business resurgence. These include the 29MW Palayan Bayan in its existing Bacon-Manito geothermal site in Bicol, the 3.6MW Mindanao 3 binary plants in its existing Mount Apo geothermal field, the 100MW Aya hydro project in Nueva Ecija and 20MW Tanawon geothermal plant also in Bicol.
“I cannot reasonably complain about the performance of the company [in 2020],” said Tantoco.
“It was fortunate that when the crisis happened, EDC was in good financial health. Our chairman [Federico R. Lopez] has prudently directed the group companies to practice fiscal discipline and keep debt at low manageable levels. We were able to build up and maintain our cash reserves well in advance,” he added. EDC’s financial performance is one of six aspects of operations that EDC measures as part of its shift to the International Integrated Reporting Council’s integrated reporting (IR) framework, in line with a Lopez group–wide initiative last year toward a renewed mission of “forging collaborative pathways for a decarbonized and regenerative future.”
“Our shift to integrated reporting demonstrates our holistic approach to our business—one that carefully considers the capitals at our disposal and the strategies through which we can manage, develop and transform these capitals to continue creating and sharing value with our different stakeholders,” he added.
EDC’s recently released IR for 2020 detailed the company’s strategy, governance, and management of six capitals, namely: financial capital, manufactured capital, human capital, social and relationship capital, intellectual capital, and natural capital.
In addition to reporting according to the IR framework, EDC also continues to align its disclosures with the Global Reporting Initiative Standards, a comprehensive framework for sustainability reporting adopted by many businesses worldwide.
Among many achievements in line with these six identified capitals, EDC reported a total of 9,111.8 gigawatt hours generation volume sold in 2020, across its geothermal, wind, solar and hydro operations, which enabled the company to help the country avoid over 7 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in lieu of coal.
EDC also poured a total of more than P256 million in social investments by way of its institutionalized programs in its 2 main CSR thrusts of education and the environment, as well as immediate public health and livelihood needs brought about by the pandemic.
This is on top of the Covid-19 assistance worth P165.2 million that the company has provided to its local government unit partners in the form of RT-PCR machines, peripherals, and consumables, molecular testing centers, medical donations, temporary quarantine facilities, and short-term livelihood.
EDC is the country’s biggest 100 percent renewable energy company that accounts for over 40 percent of the Philippines’s renewable energy output and serves about 10 percent of the country’s overall electricity demand with its installed capacity of almost 1,500MW.
Its 1,181MW geothermal portfolio accounts for 62 percent of the country’s total installed geothermal capacity and has put the Philippines on the map as the world’s third largest geothermal power producer.
