NIGERIA – Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, the bottler of PepsiCo soft drink brands in Nigeria, is pitching to be the country’s largest industrial manufacturer to power its operations with solar energy by committing to install a further 10.5 MW of generation capacity within six months.
The beverage maker has entered into an agreement with Daystar Power, the provider of solar power solutions to West Africa’s industrial manufacturers, to install solar power systems at five of its factories across Nigeria.
This will be an addition to the 1.5MW solar power systems installed at two of its bottling plants earlier in the year, bringing the total installed solar power capacity to 12MW.
Under the first project, Daystar installed 450kW and 990kW solar systems at the rooftops of SBC’s Kaduna and Kano factories respectively.
With the two solar power systems, SBC will offset a combined 24,224 MT in CO2 emissions over the installations’ twenty-year lifetime and save up to 40% on its power costs.
Following these two installations, SBC has committed to partnering with Daystar on additional solar power systems at its five factories in Abuja, Lagos (Ikeja), Ibadan, and Ilorin.
“We’re delighted to deepen our partnership with Daystar Power to install solar power systems for our Nigerian operations.
“Solar energy is a win-win for us – we can save significantly on our power costs and reduce our carbon emissions,” said Ziad Maalouf, Managing Director of SBC.
Both companies are in discussion to roll out solar energy as the primary daytime power source at SBC’s nine sites in Nigeria, making it Nigeria’s largest industrial manufacturer to use solar energy in its operations.
“Seven-Up has shown extraordinary leadership in adopting solar energy. They are proof that Nigerian industrial manufacturers can save costs on energy and meet their sustainability requirements,” said Jasper Graf von Hardenberg, CEO and Co-founder of Daystar Power.
SBC’s competitor Big Bottling Company recently finalized the installation of a 950kW solar power plant at its factory in Ogun State.
The power plant set up on the company’s factory rooftop was installed by Starsight Energy, the leading African Commercial and Industrial (“C&I”) solar power provider.
The system is fully integrated into the plant’s existing natural gas power infrastructure, offsetting the customer’s gas consumption during peak solar production, thereby enabling the plant to reduce its gas usage.
It will help BBC offset 11,743 tons of CO2 over the project’s ten-year lifetime. These savings will help the company keep its commitment to protecting the environment.
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