Demand resurgence fuels Acen’s profit growth to P5.3B

AC Energy Corp. (Acen) saw a 22-percent year-on-year surge in its net income for 2021, hitting P5.3 billion this year compared to P4.3 billion in 2020.

The Ayala group’s power generation arm said the numbers were in tune with the 27-percent jump in revenues to P26.1 billion and the 21-percent growth in attributable electricity output to 4,633 gigawatt-hours.

Acen attributed this performance to the continued recovery of electricity demand in Luzon and the growth in its generation output.

“As the Philippines and the Asia-Pacific region recover from the pandemic’s peak, the energy sector continues to experience strong demand for power … Our focus on aggressively expanding the company’s renewable energy portfolio will allow us to meet the power challenges in both our home country and in regional markets in an environmentally sound and socially responsible way,” Acen president and CEO Eric T. Francia said.

To date, Acen has 3,800 megawatts of attributable capacity in the Philippines and across the region, of which 3,300 MW or 87 percent is renewable.

Last year, Acen announced it had secured the feed-in tariffs for 320 MW of wind power projects in Vietnam, augmenting the 270 MW of existing operating attributable solar capacity in the country.

It also commenced commercial operations for the 150-MW Ingrid Quick Response plant in Pilia, Rizal, while it issued a notice to proceed for the establishment of the 283.7-MW San Marcelino Solar Farm in Zambales.

For this year, Acen is set to begin the construction of the 420-MW Masaya Solar farm in India, its largest project in the country to date. It also announced the acquisition of a 49-percent stake in Solar NT, a subsidiary of Thailand’s SUPER Energy Corporation PCL with 837 MW of operating solar plants in Vietnam.

It is also currently constructing 484 MW of new wind and solar capacity in the Philippines.

A capital expenditure of P55 billion is expected to boost Acen’s growth targets for this year.

Overall, the resurgence in demand allowed Acen to log growth across technologies and geographies with a 24-percent increase in international output and 20-percent output increase from Philippine assets.