Ingenio Providencia works every day in order to be environmentally responsible and sustainable. For this reason, we effect large investments in programs and tools as well.

Within the most significant projects carried out in the field, we have the addition to the organic cane program, where we built a new heat treatment plant for seeds; and in the area of Precision Agriculture, we generated productivity and fertility maps to increase productivity based on the variability of the soils.

During 2016, we put into operation at the Hacienda El Japón, eastern part of the municipality of Santa Elena, the first pilot project of photovoltaic solar energy, which involves the installation of a distributed generation system of photovoltaic solar power of 30 kWp, with connection to the local power grid (grid-on) to provide solutions to the consumption of electric motors in the pumping station to be used in the drip irrigation. This kind of projects can generate clean energy, reducing CO2 emissions and contributing to sustainable development to directly convert solar energy into electrical energy.

In order to become more efficient in water use, we have expanded our windows irrigation system by means of building five reservoirs; and to improve efficiency in the application of irrigation, we have installed drip irrigation on 40 hectares and eco irrigation in other 98 hectares.

Moreover, at the factory we carry out some actions for saving water well by doing good practices such as:

Restrict the use of hoses in order to promote dry cleaning with steam for cleaning the floors and implement procedures and efficient washing technologies.

At harvesting, for 2016, we contributed to environmental management an increase of 74% in cutting green cane, likewise, we contributed to the acquisition of wagons with smaller diameter wheels which significantly reduces noise when transporting cane. Furthermore, we avoid generating tires waste by the method of this type of retread.

In the Composting Plant we built two stainless steel tanks of 300 m3 each with mechanical mixing, this to avoid the environmental impact of sludge generation and accumulation of sediment at the bottom of the vinasse reservoirs.

And at the Factory, we implemented the environmental traffic light, which helps reducing 10% of hazardous waste generated at the source. In addition, we implemented the efficient energy saving program, where we have taken the following actions:

• Replacing inefficient or damaged engines by high efficiency engines.
• Installation of more than 500 LED lightings.
• Installation of timers and sensors for automatic lights.

At Ingenio Providencia we light up Colombia with renewable energy.