At Peris we are used to the sun nourishing our crops for many hours. Living in the country with the most sunshine in Europe is a marvel for those of us who make a living from agriculture, although it would be nice if the rain could make an appearance a little more often.
But let’s go back to the sun, he is our protagonist today. He is there, giving his all every day and, in general, in Spain, we take very little advantage of his energy. But this, for us, is going to change.
We are delighted to tell you that we have just finished the installation of a photovoltaic plant in our production plant in Albuixech, where we work in the fresh-cut and pre-prepared convenience fruit and vegetables division. This will help us to reduce our CO2 emissions by more than 66,000 kg per year. The objective is none other than self-consumption, since we want to cover most of our energy demand with this installation.
The installation of solar panels, which required an investment of €90,000, has a capacity of 140 kwP, with an estimated annual energy production of 197,749 kWh.
We are not taking this step just for the sake of it; it is part of a sustainable strategy that we began to deploy years ago to reduce the impact of our activity and thus reduce our carbon footprint. In line with energy, another of the decisions we took in 2021 was to contract 100% of our electricity from renewable sources . Therefore, at times when the photovoltaic installation does not cover the entire demand, the extra energy consumed will continue to be green.
An example of efficiency and sustainability in the agri-food sector
Installation process of photovoltaic panels at the Vicente Peris agri-food company in Albuixech (Valencia).
This action on energy efficiency is closely linked to Corporate Social Responsibility, where sustainability plays a major role. This is something we put into practice both in our crops and in the different production and logistics phases of our activity. And it never seems enough. Therefore, we will continue to improve and enhance processes to make our agri-food company a great example of sustainability, as set by Europe and the CAP.
Because it is clear that any industrial activity has an impact and this is something we cannot avoid, but we can reduce it as much as possible, and this has been our vision in our commitment to renewable energies .
Circular economy for the management of our waste
This step is in addition to other actions that we have been developing for some time, such as the promotion of the circular economy thanks to the correct management of the waste generated and the commitment to sustainable packaging for our products. We have talked about this at length in our blog.
In fact, we have come to introduce you to
Margarita, the cow who enjoys the organic wastes resulting from our activity of fourth and remove gamma
. And we also did something that a priori seems rather unpopular,
to defend plastic
because if most of it is recycled and recyclable, and we all do our bit to recycle it, this material is no worse than others and, in addition, it is currently essential in many sectors. The
responsible cardboard management
The ‘step by step’, the ‘slow fire’, the ‘no hurry but no pause’ is a philosophy that we at Peris practice a lot, and so our family fruit and vegetable company has reached its third generation and will be 78 years old in 2022.
Therefore, as we do not like to stop more than necessary, we are already thinking about new sustainable measures to implement both in the fourth and fifth range plant in Albuixech, as well as in the first range plant (I range) located in Foios.
We will keep you informed!