Globe Telecom, Inc. (Globe), the Philippines’ giant digital wireless communications services provider, has partnered with the First Gen Group (First Gen), the country’s leading renewable energy (RE) company, for supply of electricity from geothermal and hydroelectric sources to power Globe’s vital facilities in Mindanao and Caloocan City.
Officials from both companies finalized the partnership agreement at the start of April 2026, in anticipation of this year’s Earth Day and symbolizing their support for action on climate change.
Under the agreement, First Gen will supply electricity from renewable energy from its Mount Apo Geothermal Power Plant in North Cotabato to three of Globe’s network facilities in Mindanao, while its Pantabangan-Masiway Hydroelectric Power Plant in Nueva Ecija will provide electricity to a separate Globe facility in Caloocan City in Metro Manila.
Geothermal stands out as the only RE source capable of delivering a consistent supply of baseload power, while hydro provides flexibility to meet both baseload and peaking power requirements. These RE resources offer a good fit for utilities, like Globe, with strong environmental advocacies, because these RE resources can meet both 24/7 and peaking power needs without harming the environment.
“Over the past seven years, we have continued to make progress on decarbonizing our operations by shifting to cleaner sources of power while ensuring our network remains reliable and resilient, said Yoly Crisanto, Chief Sustainability and Corporate Communications Officer at Globe, “This partnership is also timely given the current situation with imported fossil fuel supply as we reduce our dependency on electricity that runs on imported fuel which helps improve our infrastructure resiliency.
Globe was able to shift its facilities to RE through the government-initiated Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) and Green Energy Option (GEOP) programs. RCOA allows end-users with an average monthly peak demand of 500 kilowatts (kW) to choose their own electricity providers at bilaterally negotiated prices. Meanwhile, GEOP enables consumers with average peak demand of 100 kW to source RE directly from providers.
“It is our privilege to partner with Globe and support the RE transition of its telco sites. We are one with them in a collective mission towards decarbonization and climate action,” said
Carlo Vega, Chief Customer Engagement Officer of First Gen. “Geothermal is the only RE source capable of supplying energy-intensive facilities round-the-clock. It’s indigenous and given the volatility in the price of imported fuel sources, offers relative stability and predictability in electricity costs.”
As the country’s leading RE producer and one of the pioneers in the local RE business, First Gen owns and operates 30 facilities with a total renewable generating capacity of 1,700 megawatts (MW) powered by hydro, geothermal, solar and wind resources.
In partnership with Prime Infrastructure Capital (Prime Infra), First Gen also owns a minority stake in four gas-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 2,017 MW. These gas facilities support baseload requirements and help offset the intermittency of renewable sources, thereby contributing to a more stable and secure power supply.
