The company is aiming to eventually run all of its manufacturing facilities using renewable energy. The new plant, when complete, will help to run P&G’s Bounty paper towel and Charmin toilet tissue plant in Albany, Georgia, USA. The biomass plant will turn scrap wood into steam and electricity, thereby providing 100 percent of the steam needed to manufacture the Bounty and Charmin branded products. It will also provide up to 70 percent of the site’s total energy needs.
When it opens in 2017, the $200 million plant will significantly increase P&G’s renewable energy resources, thereby moving the company closer to its goal of obtaining 30 percent of its overall energy from renewables by 2020 with an ultimate goal of achieving 100 percent renewables. At present, renewable energy accounts for just 8 percent of the company’s energy requirements, including wind, solar, geothermal and biomass.
“As this project enables us to operate one of our largest global plants with a renewable energy source, it will reduce the environmental footprint of two leading brands, Bounty and Charmin. We see this as a win for our business, consumers, partners and the environment” said Martin Riant, P&G Executive Sponsor of Sustainability and Group President, Global Baby and Feminine & Family Care
The project has been in the planning stage for nearly two years and has included more than a dozen partners. The plant will be built, owned and operated by Constellation and, in addition to steam, will create electricity that Constellation will sell to local utility Georgia Power. It will replacing an aging biomass boiler that has been providing around 30 percent of the Albany site’s power requirements for the last 34 years.
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