We use renewable energies in our plants in Colombia

Our philosophy, as a business group, has always been based on resource efficiency. In this case, we will talk about the energy we use in our plants.

As part of our environmental commitment, in 2021 our plants in Colombia (which are not in the Free Trade Zone) migrated to renewable energies.

This initiative adds to the achievements obtained in 2020 of being carbon neutral and climate positive companies as well as having ‘Reciclene, as a zero emissions company’.

Why hydropower?

According to Ministry of energy, 70% of Colombia’s electricity comes from hydroelectric sources: 50 small hydroelectric plants and 6 larger ones. This energy is considered the backbone of the energy sector because of:

• Its high potential and low generation costs.
• Being a clean source because it does not consume water or alter its quality.
• Being renewable and helping to mitigate the effects of climate change by being low in carbon.

In addition to having a large infrastructure and greater capacity, hydroelectric generators have priority because it is more expensive to have them off than on, according to the firm XM, which operates the National Interconnected System (SIN) and manages Colombia’s Wholesale Energy Market,

Although historically Colombia has been a large consumer of hydraulic energy, especially in the Andean zone, if energy demand becomes high and hydraulic power is not enough, unfortunately small gas, diesel and coal power generation plants will be activated.

The guarantee from our supplier

The new commercial relationship with our supplier Emgesa, for the next 5 years, will guarantee that the energy we use in our plants in Colombia (Plastilene, Khroma, Vinipack, Altalene and Reciclene) will always be hydraulic, regardless of external factors.

In the analysis we made of potential suppliers, we took into account:

• Reliability: that they were directly the owners of the generation parks.
• Price: Given the country’s situation due to the pandemic, the reduction in energy consumption (45%) allowed us to access a lower cost per kilowatt. In principle, this may not seem much, but when total consumption is added up, savings are reflected.
• Certification: Document that validates that we will use clean energy without any fossil fuel generation component.

In other words, we stay with the same supplier, but we change the service. Now we will have 100% hydraulic energy.

More than customers and suppliers, what we have are partners in our value chain.  This step we are taking hand in hand with our energy supplier gives us the confidence to continue on the road to sustainability.