Yokohama Tire Philippines, Incorporated (YTPI) recently signed an agreement with Thailand-based Japanese company Sharp Solar Solution Asia Co. Ltd. For Central Luzon’s largest solar roof power installation.
Under the agreement signed between YTPI president and CEO Hitoshi Kobayashi and Sharp CEO Hideyuki Inada, the tire manufacturer will install some 15,000 solar panels on its west plant’s roof which will be connected to inverters and distributed to factory loads. The solar panels will cover approximately 24,000 square meters.
Once fully functional, the solar panels will generate four megawatts (MW) of electricity, and it will be the second largest self-consumption roof-mounted power installation in the Philippines.
The project will be executed by Sharp, one of the leading solar panel supplier and EPC or Engineering, Procurement, and Construction companies in Asia. They will work side by side with PEMCOR Industries, Inc. which will do the installation.
It is expected to be complete and fully functional by April 2019 and will offset YTPI’s annual energy demand from the grid by seven percent and reduce carbon dioxide emission annually by 2,800,000 kilograms. The solar panels can provide cooling effect inside the factory which will reduce energy consumption on air conditioning, especially during summer season.
This project will pose as one of the major milestone projects of YTPI, and strengthening its corporate philosophy in preserving and protecting the environment and the Earth’s resources.
YTPI’s ultimate aim is to have a sustainable, self-reliant, and renewable alternative power source that will have a strong impact on CO2 emission and cost reduction. This will also etch a legacy to YTPI’s history which recently reached its 100 Millionth tire milestone and expects to be operational by the company’s 23rd anniversary in 2019.
The 4MW solar power installation project is an expansion of YTPIs sustainable energy source. In year 2010, YTPI is the pioneer among Clark locators in using solar power through its solar tubes that provides lighting in their canteen building facility during daytime.
Moreover, YTPI’s solar program is a heed to the Green Building Code of the Philippines which “seeks to improve the efficiency of building performance through a framework of acceptable set of standards that will enhance sound environmental and resource management that will counter the harmful gases responsible for the adverse effects of climate change, throughout the building’s life-cycle including efficient use of resources, site selection, planning, design, construction, use, occupancy, operation and maintenance, without significant increase in cost.”
Yokohama Tire Philippines, a subsidiary of The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. Japan, is the sole tire manufacturing plant in the Philippines. The factory focuses on the production of Pneumatic Passenger Car Radial and Recreational Vehicle tires with the daily production of more or less 20,000 tires per day.