recently to BK Brazil, master franchisee of Burger King and Popeyes in the country, disclosed its ASG commitments. One of them is to reduce the emission of Greenhouse Gases throughout the Company by 30% by 2030. However, to achieve this, the Company has already invested, since 2019, when the project began, which is still in the modeling and feasibility, in distributed energy generation projects for Burger King restaurants, from Photovoltaic Farms.
Currently, the Burger King has five Distributed Generation plants, in the connection phase, in the cities of Itaboraí and Itaguaí (RJ), Saltinho (SP), Brasília (DF) and Cajamar (SP), this specifically, in operation since October 2021, has 30,000 m² and 4,560 modules and a capacity to produce 3,121 MWh/year, which corresponds to the consumption of around 24 of the Company’s restaurants. With all these farms in operation, the Company will have 57% of its own stores in Low Tension Distributed.
Today, these five plants have an annual capacity of 9,383 MWh, a load equivalent to the consumption of 66 Burger King and Popeyes stores, generating a reduction of 1,186 tons of CO2/year and an estimated savings of R$ 1,471,765.00/year. All this energy would be able to supply a city of 14 thousand inhabitants.
“Since we started building our Distributed Generation Farms, we had a long-term vision and as such, the project is directly linked to one of our recently announced ESG commitments. With the project, in addition to reducing tons of CO², we guarantee around 250 direct jobs and more than 150 indirect jobs for the construction of the plants. In the operation phase, 50 direct vacancies were offered for a period of 25 years. We continue to look for ways to innovate and accelerate the mitigation of our environmental impact in the country”, emphasizes Gustavo Do Valle Fehlberg, Vice President of Development at BK Brasil, Burger King and Popeyes.
The resources needed to build these plants were obtained through a composition of own investments, made by H2enegy, a company specialized in Photovoltaic Systems, and Eco Partners, specialized in investments in energy generation projects, and resources obtained through the securitization of receivables of the project, through the issuance of a CRI (Certificate of Real Estate Receivables), being the first CRI in the Distributed Generation market in Brazil. This CRI was certified as Green Bond, becoming the first Green CRI in Brazil. This is important, as it certifies, through a thorough audit in all areas where the plants were implemented, by an independent company, that there was no removal of native vegetation, the non-use of unregulated labor, the adoption of good governance practices of H2energy.
“We made an effort to implement this project by issuing the first CRI (Certificate of Real Estate Receivables) in the Distributed Generation market in Brazil, which was certified as Green Bond, because in addition to bringing pioneering spirit, it attests to our commitment to the highest standards of quality and socio-environmental responsibility, which are fundamental both for the market in which we operate and for the standards of BK Brasil”, emphasizes João Paulo Éboli, founding partner of H2energy.
In the expansion phase, BK Brasil is continuing the negotiation of photovoltaic plants in over 16 concession areas, divided between dedicated plant models and plants in consortium. The company’s goal is to have at least 80% of its own stores in Low Voltage with Distributed Energy Generation by the end of 2023.
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