Linden Suites shifts to RE power (Sabong News)

Leisure and business hotel The Linden Suites has shifted its electricity usage to renewable energy (RE) by underwriting a power supply agreement (PSA) under the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP) offer of First Gen Corporation and Energy Development Corporation of the Lopez group. According to Ma. Celeste Romualdo, general manager of The Linden Suites, cited the shift as a milestone in its operations being the first hotel in the country that took the transformative pathway of securing power from RE. “We became the very first hotel in the country to switch its power source to 100% renewable energy,” she stated. The Linden Suites had started sourcing geothermal power from the plants of First Gen and EDC on March 26, 2022 – a fitting timeframe because that was also the date marking this year’s celebration of Earth Hour. Romualdo noted that “by joining the GEOP, The Linden Suites now boasts of avoiding 1,203 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to 123,000 gallons of gasoline and about 18,000 tree seedlings cultivated over a 10-year period.” She emphasized that “as an independent, Filipino-owned city hotel, we hope our humble steps towards sustainability will inspire other businesses to move forward in the same direction, for our collective future.” Establishments or end-users with 100 kilowatts (kW) of peak demand in the last 12 months can already sign up for a power supply contract under GEOP, which allows securing electricity purely from RE sources, including the replacement power that shall be delivered to them. First Gen and EDC are pioneer-companies in offering GEOP-underpinned power contracts to consumers as the Lopez group stood pat on its investment decision to only embrace green energy technologies and solutions in its portfolio. Carlo Vega, vice president for Power Marketing, Trading and Economics of First Gen, emphasized, “We put our customers at the center of the work that we do. And in this shift, we will continuously focus on our customer’s progress, and not just our product, in order to achieve our mission of decarbonization and regeneration.” He qualified that “our group’s goal of a decarbonized and regenerative future requires a major shift—one that needs the participation of different stakeholders. Among these stakeholders, our customers play a crucial role.” Apart from catering to business events as well as the accommodation needs of returning overseas Filipino workers, The Linden Suites has also been one of the quarantine hotels that collaborated with the government in its coronavirus pandemic response.