Manila, 1 December 2021 -- Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal energy company, announced today it is leveraging

weather forecast data from IBM’s The Weather Company (TWC) to help make better decisions for the operations of its power plants in areas prone to natural hazards such as landslides and typhoons.

EDC operates 12 power plants in the country. As a pioneer in generating 100% clean, renewable and reliable electricity power supply in the Philippines, ensuring efficient operations to deliver safe, adequate and reliable supply of power at optimum cost is key to its business. 

Access to advanced and accurate weather insights has helped EDC understand the risks of extreme weather and decide whether or not to keep the plants operating through the hazard or implement a shutdown and secure strategy.

The 15-day hourly forecasts on demand from TWC, which is the world’s most accurate weather forecaster overall [1] allows EDC to better predict potential hazards such as floods and landslides and take preventive measures to help ensure employees’ safety and protect critical assets. The hyper-local weather data, delivered by IBM Cloud, also allows EDC to deep dive on how it can effectively supply energy to power Philippines’ businesses regardless of weather conditions.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risk Report, extreme weather, climate action failure and human-led environmental damage are the top three most likely risks for businesses in the next decade. OCHA’s Global Climate Risk Index 2021 included the Philippines as among the countries affected by recurring catastrophes [2], and the Asian Development Bank estimates that Philippines stands to lose 6% of its GDP annually by 2100 if it disregards climate change risks [3].

“Unbridled consumption and primacy of bottom-line growth are at the root of the climate crisis, and we today need a stable supply of power that also keeps our Mother Earth healthy and happy,” said Federico R. Lopez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EDC. “By leveraging weather and hyper-local insights to improve the efficiency of our decisions and operations, EDC is proving how purposeful innovation and partnership can lead to sustainable management of our renewable geothermal resource.”

“We have seen an increase in intensity of weather extremes, in part due to climate change, which is disruptive to business operations,” said Aileen Judan-Jiao, President and Country General Manager, IBM Philippines. “Today, EDC is not only supplying naturally sourced renewable energy to our country’s national grid, but it is also demonstrating how technology can improve business operations in a more sustainable way.”

Companies can also access weather insights from TWC as part of IBM’s new Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS), which brings proven AI and geospatial analytics together with weather data and new innovations from IBM Research for climate risk analytics and carbon accounting.

Organizations can use EIS to monitor and send alerts on severe weather, wildfires, flooding and air quality. EIS can also help companies predict potential impact of weather and climate change across the business, access climate risk analytics, and prioritize response efforts to reduce risks. It can also help inform reporting on environmental initiatives and operationalize carbon accounting without overworking procurement and supply chain teams.

TWC services and EIS solutions are today delivered to the organizations in multiple industries across the world by Filipino talents from IBM Client Innovation Center, Philippines.

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About IBM’s The Weather Company and Environmental Intelligence Suite (EIS)

To learn more about IBM’s The Weather Company, please visit https://www.ibm.com/weather.

To learn more about IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, please visit https://www.ibm.com/products/environmental-intelligence-suite.

Reference:

[1] ForecastWatch, Global and Regional Weather Forecast Accuracy Overview, 2017-2020, https://www.forecastwatch.com/AccuracyOverview2017-2020, commissioned by IBM.

[2] https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-climate-risk-index-2021

[3] https://niccdies.climate.gov.ph/climate-change-impacts

Media Contacts:

Frances L. Ariola 

Energy Development Corporation

Email: ariola.fl@energy.com.ph

Paranee Reymondon

IBM Philippines

Email: paranee@th.ibm.com