May 26, 2023

CP Foods to create animal farm that fully generates power from renewable sources

Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CP Foods) plans to pilot an electric vehicle for food transportation and develop a RE100 prototype animal farm that generates 100% of the electricity required for farm activities from renewable sources.

Those developments are part of the company's commitment to promoting sustainable food production by transitioning to a renewable energy company. Additionally, CP Foods is installing solar panels on its farms, feed mill and food manufacturing facilities in Thailand and implementing waste conversion to renewable energy programmes in accordance with the circular economy principle.

"CP Foods is dedicated to significantly increasing the use of renewable energy, such as biomass, biogas and solar energy, to further enhance sustainable food production," said Peerapong Krinchai, head of engineering at CP Foods. "We are determined to lead the food industry by adopting the highest percentage of renewable energy use."

Starting in 2022, CP Foods is seeking to source 30% of its total energy consumption from renewables including 69% from biomass energy, 29% from biogas energy, and 2% from solar energy. The company has set targets of increasing renewable energy use to 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050.

By replacing fossil fuel energy with biomass, the company was able to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 180,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents. To further enhance biogas energy utilisation, CP Foods initiated a project to convert waste into renewable energy. A system has been installed to process waste sludge from the wastewater treatment system to generate biogas for electricity and decompose waste into fertiliser.

Furthermore, CP Foods is striving to increase the proportion of solar power generation systems within its operations. The company's 2025 goal is to install solar cells across all CP Foods' farms and factories, spanning over 208 locations, with an estimated total installed power capacity of approximately 100 megawatts.

- SolarQuarter