First Gen puts up Jollibee Group’s largest solar panel

The Jollibee Group, through its subsidiary Zenith Foods Corp. (ZFC), has tapped the expertise of First Gen Corp., through Pi Energy Inc., to energize one-third of the food chain’s manufacturing facility with solar-powered electricity.

The Jollibee Group continues to accelerate its shift to renewable energy by operating 6,300 solar panels in its Canlubang Baking Facility (CBF) in Calamba, Laguna, the company’s most extensive solar panel installation to date. This initiative is part of the Jollibee Group’s commitment to more sustainable business practices, guided by its global sustainability agenda, Joy for Tomorrow.

ZFC started accelerating the integration of sustainable business practices into the Jollibee Group’s commissaries and logistics centers in 2020. The CBF is now the second out of the four target sites for solar panel installation. The first one was Zen3, also in Canlubang, which was installed with 3,000 solar panels in November 2023. The solar panel installation in the two other sites is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2024.

These commissaries and logistics centers support the Jollibee Group’s portfolio of brands in the Philippines, such as Jollibee, Greenwich, Burger King, Red Ribbon, Chowking and Mang Inasal.

First Gen constructed four rooftop solar power plants for ZFC’s commissaries, cold storage, and logistics facilities.

First Gen is one of the country’s leading clean and renewable energy companies with at least 3,501 megawatts of total installed capacity. Its power plants run on geothermal, wind, hydro and solar energy, which are all renewable; and on natural gas, the cleanest form of fossil fuel.

Pi Energy, a sister company of First Gen, is primarily engaged in the generation and supply of energy from renewable resources, as well as the construction and installation of energy-related facilities.

Officials from the Jollibee Group and First Gen led the recent switch-on rites of Canlubang Baking Facility’s solar panels. They are (from left) Ronaldo Sales, Zenith Foods Corp. AVP and head of the Canlubang Baking Facility; Carlos Lorenzo Vega, First Gen VP for power marketing, trading and economics; Michael Ong, VP and head of supply chain management of ZFC; Calamba City Mayor Rosseller Rizal; Julius Leyba, AVP and head of engineering services of ZFC; Mark Malabanan, First Gen AVP for solar; and Manny Portugal, First Gen head of technology solutions.