Maynilad Water Services Inc. is keen on spending money to achieve carbon neutrality by the end of 2027.
Plans include investments in additional solar panel systems, more use of electric vehicles (EVs) as well as the purchase of electricity from renewable energy (RE) sources.
Maynilad said it is also carefully timing the investments as these affect rates paid by consumers.
“Our target is to shift to carbon neutral by end of 2027. We’ve already commissioned 1 megawatt (MW) of solar panels in our La Mesa treatment plants. We’ve already constructed another 1 MW within the compound also, it will be commissioned in the succeeding months. We are gradually shifting vehicles to EVs,” Ronaldo Padua, Maynilad water supply operations head, told reporters in an event it hosted in Quezon City.
Padua said there are also plans to expand the solar power generating capacity and open spaces in Maynilad facilities are checked for viability.
Roel Espiritu, Maynilad head of quality, sustainability and resiliency division, said the company targets to have 50 percent of their vehicle fleet as EVs by 2037.
“We are also timing it properly as all these interventions have costs and such costs are also being borne by customers. While EVs get cheaper, we will ramp up its use. Another aspect of carbon neutrality is we are very aggressive with reforestation, carbon sequestrations. We’re looking at about 1,700 hectares of watershed particularly in Ipo dam,” Espiritu said.
Espiritu also bared plans to start purchasing from RE sources starting next year to power 5 to 10 percent of Maynilad’s requirements.
Maynilad is the largest private water concessionaire in the Philippines in terms of customer base serving the cities of Manila, Quezon City, Makati, Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon as well as the cities of Cavite, Bacoor and Imus, and the towns of Kawit, Noveleta and Rosario in Cavite Province.
