Massive battery in Acen’s pipeline with fresh funds raised

AC Energy Corp. (Acen) expects to list on May 14 the shares it will sell in a follow-on offering (FOO) as the Ayala group’s power generation arm readies to reinforce its renewables portfolio with battery energy storage systems.

This developed as Acen racked up in 2020 a net income of P3.75 billion, the company’s highest yet as it strives to become Southeast Asia’s largest listed renewable energy platform

“Sustainable recovery is now seen as perhaps our best and only way forward to achieve our environmental goals to mitigate climate change, create jobs, build economic resilience, and ultimately, improve the well-being of people,” company chair Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a statement.

“We are delighted that AC Energy has made significant progress along these fronts and continues to be recognized as a key contributor to sustainable growth and development,” Zobel said, explaining Acen’s intensified drive in the renewables segment, mainly solar and wind.

John Eric Francia, Acen president and chief executive said that while solar and wind represented a bigger chunk of their portfolio, the company was also adopting more emergent technologies such as battery energy storage systems.

“We are currently focused on scaling up our investments, particularly in solar and wind,” Francia said during Acen’s annual stockholders’ meeting held on Monday.

“[But] given the intermittent or variable nature of solar and wind, we believe that these have to be complemented to really unlock their potential: by battery storage,” he said.

According to Francia, Acen is building a 40-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system in Alaminos, Laguna province, near the location of a 120-MW solar facility the company is also constructing.

“We also hope to complete within the year the construction of our Renewable Energy Laboratory, a 4-MW facility that includes different kinds of technologies including solar and battery,” he said.

The laboratory is intended for research and development in the “real-world” performance of the various renewable energy technologies.

To pursue all these, Acen intends to issue anew 1.58 billion common shares, set to raise as much as P13 billion.

“The proceeds will be used to partially fund the development of its power projects in the pipeline and inorganic growth opportunities, if and when they arise,” Francia said.

“We have filed in our prospectus a target listing date of May 14 for the FOO, so we are hoping to get regulatory approval soon,” he added. INQ