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New solar power plant supplies 40% of Nestlé factory energy needs

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Amman, Jordan

Nestlé has inaugurated a new solar power plant in Jordan, taking the company one step closer to achieving its commitment to use 100 percent renewable electricity in its operations.

The new installation at the factory in Al Husseiniya, Ma’an Province, southern Jordan, generates enough power to supply 40 percent of the site’s current energy demand. That’s a saving of 1,300 tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to taking 335 standard passenger cars off the road.

The move is in accordance with Nestlé's commitment to the RE100 initiative, a global collaborative initiative of influential businesses committed to using 100 percent renewable energy.

“Everything we do at Nestlé aims at Creating Shared Value, and one of our commitments to society in the Middle East is to provide climate change leadership and promote resources efficiency, which will be further met as all our factories in the region significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and we get closer to our ambition of zero environmental impact in all our operations,” said Mazen Kayyali, Business Executive Officer at Nestlé Waters Jordan.

A second solar installation at the Jordan site is planned for completion in 2019, with the aim of making the factory fully energy independent.

“This is the first fully Nestlé-owned large-scale solar power farm in the region,” said Claus Conzelmann, Regional Vice President, Technical, Water Resources & Environment, Nestlé Waters. “It marks another important milestone in phasing out the use of fossil fuels in our operations.”


Harnessing natural power

Once both phases of the project are complete, the plant could supply surplus electricity to the national grid, keeping spare capacity to cover additional demand for a potential factory extension in the future.

More than 3,000 solar panels, standing on spare land next to the factory and covering an area of more than 16,500 square meters - around the size of two football pitches - provide the power.

The region has on average more than 300 days of sunshine per year, making it an ideal location for solar energy generating.

Ma’an Province Governor Ahmed Amoush recently opened the new solar power plant alongside Nestlé Waters Jordan Business Executive Officer Mazen Kayyali, and Factory Manager Iyad Saidawi.


Switching to renewables

Last year, Nestlé installed solar PV panels that will provide renewable energy to three manufacturing sites in Dubai, and reduce six million kg of CO2 emissions annually. Another installation will also follow in Dubai later this year, part of this wider solar power development supplying Nestlé Middle East factories.

As with all Nestlé factories, the site in Al Husseiniya in Jordan is certified to the Environmental Management Standard ISO 14’001.

The site is also on track to seek Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification in 2019. If it achieves this, it will be the first site in the country to do so.