ACEN seals solar power venture with Singaporean firm

MANILA  -The Ayala Group’s ACEN Corp. and Ib vogt (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. have obtained regulatory approvals to jointly establish a platform to finance large-scale solar power projects across Asia.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, ACEN said the shareholders’ agreement that had been signed in April by its subsidiary ACEN Renewables International Pte Ltd. with Ib vogt took effect on Friday.

It can be recalled that ACEN announced its partnership with the Singaporean firm that would focus on “shovel-ready projects” in Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

These projects have a minimum target operational capacity of at least 1,000 megawatts (MW) in the coming year. Majority of these would come from Ib vogt’s Asia development pipeline of more than 5,000 MW. The joint venture also intends to acquire late-stage projects from local and regional developers.

ACEN said last year it would invest up to $200 million in equity on top of debt financing “to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in Asia.”

The company aims to expand its renewable energy portfolio to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2030. It also aspires to attain net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.At present, ACEN’s total capacity stands at more than 4.4 GW in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia.

ACEN has 1.1 GW of renewable projects under construction in the Philippines alone, with ACEN president and CEO John Eric Francia saying earlier that 600 MW of these projects would commence commercial operations in the next months.

So far, ACEN tapped a P10-billion loan to bankroll its renewable expansion across Asia-Pacific, which forms part of the P32-billion fundraising plan announced in March.

ACEN likewise borrowed P8 billion from China Banking Corp. and Japan-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group for the same purpose.

The firm recently announced the leasing of an 800-hectare area on Laguna Lake to build what would be its first large-scale floating solar project with a capacity of 1,000 MW. INQ