Mr. Anavin Jiratomsiri, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chow Steel Industries Public Company Limited or CHOW, the leading producer and distributor of steel billets and solar energy business through Chow Energy Public Company Limited, said that CHOW has signed the MoU with Thai Union to create "Good Health, an Abundant Sea, Healthy Living and Healthy Oceans" to develop and install more than 30 MW of solar projects for Thai Union's partners nationwide, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of approximately 10,000 households.
The project arose from the determination of both parties to harness the concept of sustainable development, or ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance), which emphasizes the importance of doing business in three main areas of responsibility: the environment, our society, and good governance. In turn, these guiding principles aim to transition the business to a low-carbon organization and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CHOW will be responsible for developing solar projects for Thai Union's supply chain network. Each project will be tailored according to the consumption of each partner. The goal is to maximize the use of solar energy and achieve the highest possible benefits for the partners.
"CHOW is a company that has great knowledge and experience in solar energy projects and has specialized expertise to support the project with Thai Union in many aspects including detailed Development, high-quality Construction, and highly-efficient Operation and maintenance," Mr. Anavin said.
Mr. Adam Brennan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Thai Union Group PCL., said that this cooperation supports the implementation of the Company's SeaChange(R) 2030 sustainability strategy. One of the key commitments under SeaChange(R) is to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 42 percent by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. By installing solar energy systems (solar cells) for supply chain partners in Thailand, this will significantly increase the proportion of electricity use from renewable energy, which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the Company's supply chain network.
This MOU helps our partners in the supply chain access and use solar energy more easily through the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) system. The PPA is a type of energy model in which the service provider invests in all equipment, installation, and maintenance of the system for free. Our supply chain partners participating in this project will only pay for the electricity generated from solar cells according to the contract period at a lower rate than that of the electricity authority. Therefore, this collaboration will not only help reduce greenhouse gases in the supply chain, but also help our partners save energy costs, increase competitiveness, and ultimately increase their profitability.
Under this project, solar power generation systems with a total size of more than 30 MW will be installed over the next two years and this cooperation will help the supply chain contribute towards Thailand's low-carbon emissions goals.
"Through our SeaChange(R) sustainability strategy, Thai Union has introduced new strategies with 11 interconnected goals that will help reshape the seafood industry through solutions for both people and planet. This challenging mission requires strength and cooperation from every sector, including NGO partners, government, corporate partners and the public sector to ensure these goals can be achieved," Mr. Adam said.
Source: K Plus PR