The listed energy unit of the Ayala Group, AC Energy Corp. (Acen), is tapping the “green” bond market to raise as much as P10 billion to finance the development of renewable energy (RE) projects.
Acen, in a disclosure, said its executive committee had give the green light for the issuance of peso-denominated fixed rate five-year bonds that will qualify as Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) green bonds. These bonds will be listed on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp.
Proceeds will fund various RE projects in its portfolio: Arayat-Mexico Solar Power Project; the Cagayan Solar I Project; and phase one of the San Marcelino Solar Project/Transmission Line.
Acen is expanding the capacity of the Arayat-Mexico solar farm by 42 megawatts.
The facility, a joint undertaking with Citicore Power Inc., has a capacity of 72 MW. In April, the plant reached its full capacity—less than a year since its inauguration.
In March this year, Acen firmed up its joint venture with CleanTech Global Renewables Inc. to develop a solar farm and transmission line project located in Lal-lo, Cagayan.
The Cagayan solar project will be scaled up to 133 MW, which will be constructed on a 115-hectare flat land in Barangays Magapit and Sta. Maria. It will be connected to the 69-kilovolt Lal-lo (Magapit) substation of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines via a 3-kilometer transmission line.
Project pipeline
Acen is likewise working on the 283-MW solar farm in San Marcelino, Zambales, dubbed as the largest in the Philippines, with a potential for expansion to a total of 700 MW.
It earlier said the planned solar farm, sitting on 300 hectares of unutilized land covered by lahar, would feature the latest solar technologies such as east-west oriented panels and string inverters to capture solar radiation more efficiently.
Acen president and CEO Eric Francia said the three projects were slated for completion next year.
Currently, Acen has more than 3,800 MW of attributable capacity in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia. It aims to become the largest listed RE platform in Southeast Asia and reach 5 gigawatts of renewables capacity by 2025.