Features Business Sustainability
APP to Undertake Massive Solar Power Project

In its continuing efforts to build itself an environmentally progressive paper supplier, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) announced plans to install in excess of 200 mega-watts (MW) of solar power capacity across eight Chinese mills. The move represents an additional 129.5 MW of capacity to be built on the 70.5 MW installed during the previous year.

The collective rooftop solar capacity of the eight Chinese mills will generate enough energy to power more than 500,000 homes. It is anticipated to be the largest solar project within the pulp-and-paper industry, and amongst the largest rooftop solar projects anywhere in the world.

The solar project will result in the installation of approximately four million square metres of solar panels, the equivalent of 560 football pitches. The panels will be installed at APP operations at Gold East, Gold Hongye, Gold Huasheng, Hainan Jinhai, Yalong, Ningbo Zhonghua, Ningbo Asia and Guangxi Jingui mills in China.

The project, being developed by a consortium of Chinese solar manufacturers, forms part of a wider Chinese Government strategy to increase distributed solar power capacity. Energy generated by the project will be supplied into the national power grid. APP in turn will receive discounted electricity from the national grid.

“This project means APP will benefit from efficiency savings, while also making an important contribution to the local communities around our mills through the generation of clean and renewable power,” said Bingjian Sun, Communications General Manager for APP-China. “It is a great example of how sustainability can have a positive effect on planet and people as well as profit. It also supports the Chinese Government’s commitment to increase the proportion of renewable energy in China to 20 percent by 2030.

“As one of the world’s largest pulp and paper companies, we recognize the important role we must play in helping reduce global emissions. Whether through facilitating the growth of renewable energy in China, reducing emissions from peatlands in Indonesia or cutting energy usage in our operations globally, we know we can have a significant impact.”
 
All 200 MW of capacity is expected to be installed within the next three to five years. China is the world’s largest investor in renewable energy, investing more than $89.5 billion in 2014, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. In solar power alone, the Chinese Government is committed to the annual development of a minimum of 10 GW of capacity between 2013 and 2015.