ENERGY WASTE WATER

Water remains a scarce resource in many areas of the world. Such areas are becoming increasingly threatened as a result of climate change and continued inefficient use of this precious resource. For Sonnedix, the use of water is predominantly for purposes of dust suppression and civil works on construction projects, and panel cleaning on operational projects. We continually strive to reduce our consumption of water on our project sites and to implement measures to prevent adverse impacts of project-related water use on communities or the environment, particularly in areas of high water stress.

Sonnedix continues to reduce waste generation, and, in the case of unavoidable waste generation, applies the waste hierarchy and approach of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’, with disposal remaining as only a last resort. As part of the Sonnedix Sustainability Strategy, we set the target of zero panels, inverters or batteries to landfill, and ensure diversion of this waste through approved recycling schemes, such as PV Cycle in Europe. As a result of implementation of our waste policies, 93% of waste generated on our construction and operational projects was diverted from landfill in 2022, exceeding our 60% target.

Sonnedix encourages the implementation of energy reduction measures on all of our projects, such as installation of energy efficient and motion sensing lighting, energy efficient heating and cooling devices, efficient use of fuel for generators, among other measures.

Through the Sustainability Strategy, Sonnedix committed to a reduction in overall energy intensity of 10% by the end of 2022 against the 2020 baseline. This target has been exceeded as a result of the significant increase in electricity production since 2020 and an increase in fuel efficiency on project sites.

Our target for 30% reduction in water intensity by the end of 2022 has not been met, with a 10% overall reduction against our baseline. This is mainly as a result of an increased number and scale of projects in construction over 2022. In particular, two large and complex projects are under construction in Chile and Japan, which both required complex civil works and in the case of Chile, significant reliance on dust suppression measures to minimise the negative impact on local receptors. Despite this, we continue to incorporate specific water reduction requirements on operational projects, especially in relation to water used for panel cleaning, and achieved an over 20% decrease.