The UAE's largest ground-mounted private solar plant inaugurated at Nestlé Middle East's Al Maha factory in Dubai.
The solar plant was launched in the presence of Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive officer of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa); Khalifa Al Zaffin, executive chairman-Dubai Aviation City Corporation and Dubai South; Massimo Baggi, ambassador of Switzerland to the UAE and Bahrain; Dr Franco Vigliotti, project head and Dean of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) in the Middle East; Marco Settembri, executive vice-president Nestlé S.A. and CEO Zone Europe, Middle East & North Africa, and Yves Manghardt, Nestlé Middle East chairman and chief executive officer.
The plant results in installing nearly 28,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels at the company's three manufacturing sites, which will create 10GWh of electricity per year - excluding at least six million kilogrammes of CO2 emissions annually, the equivalent of annual emissions from 1,500 passenger cars or the energy consumption of 800 homes.
The largest site at Al Maha will alone install 20,000 PV panels, generating 7.2GWh of electricity and eliminating 4.5 million kilogrammes of CO2 per year.
The solar plant is part of Dewa's Shams initiative which boost building owners to install PV panels and connects them to Dewa's grid.
"I am delighted to be here again at the Nestlé Al Maha factory in Dubai South, to witness the harvest of cooperation on sustainability between Dewa and Nestlé. This is a real example of the positive effect of collaboration between the public and private sectors in renewable and clean energy, which will have a greater net effect on the environment as a whole locally and internationally," said Al Tayer.
The company has already described category and product specific manufacturing roadmaps to ensure only recyclable or reusable packaging is used by 2025. Nestlé is also playing an important role in developing plastics collection, sorting and recycling schemes across the world, through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) actions that are adding to industry coalitions that intends to create circular economies within countries, recycling and reusing in a manner that creates shared value for all involved. In the Middle East, Nestlé is partner of EPR Coalitions in Abu Dhabi and Jordan.