DUBAI, (Pakistan Point News - 24th Sep, 2019) The UAE’s largest ground-mounted private solar plant was launched at Nestlé middle East’s Al Maha factory in Dubai.
The plant entails installing nearly 28,000 photovoltaic, PV, panels at the company’s three manufacturing sites, that will generate 10GWh of electricity per year – eliminating at least six million kilograms of CO2 emissions annually, the equivalent of annual emissions from 1,500 passenger cars or the energy consumption of 800 homes. The largest site at Al Maha will alone house 20,000 PV panels, generating 7.2GWh of electricity and eliminating 4.5 million kilograms of CO2 per year.
The solar plant is part of DEWA’s Shams initiative which encourages building owners to install PV panels and connect them to DEWA’s grid.
Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, DEWA, Khalifa Al Zaffin, Executive Chairman-Dubai Aviation City Corporation and Dubai South, Massimo Baggi, Ambassador of Switzerland to the UAE, Dr. Franco Vigliotti, Project Head and Dean of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne,EPFL in the Middle East, Marco Settembri, Executive Vice President Nestlé S.A. and CEO Zone Europe, Middle East & North Africa, and Yves Manghardt, Nestlé Middle East Chairman and CEO, attended the launch ceremony.
"I am pleased to be here again at the Nestlé Al Maha factory in Dubai South, to witness the harvest of cooperation on sustainability between DEWA and Nestlé. This is a real example of the positive effect of collaboration between the public and private sectors in renewable and clean energy, which will have a positive net effect on the environment as a whole locally and internationally," said Al Tayer.
For his part, Settembri said, "Nestlé is committed to stewarding resources for future generations through caring for water, safeguarding the environment and acting on climate change. The solar plant in Dubai is an important contribution to Nestlé’s global ambition to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We are embracing the most ambitious aim of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius."
One third of Nestlé’s 413 factories in the world are already using 100 percent renewable electricity, and the company will continue to increase the use of energy from renewable sources.
Nestlé Middle East has since 2010 achieved a 42 percent reduction in water withdrawal per ton of product, a 34 percent decrease in energy consumption, and 28 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of product, while its production went up by 68 percent. The company produces with zero waste for disposal at its food manufacturing sites in the region.
