Accounting adjustments axe ACEN’s 2023 earnings by 43%

MANILA, Philippines — Accounting adjustments at its largest international market slashed Ayala-led ACEN Corp.’s full-year earnings by 43 percent to P7.4 billion in 2023 from P13 billion earlier, despite a slight increase in revenues driven by new capacities in the Philippines and Australia.

The Ayala group’s energy platform said that, excluding the impact of accounting adjustments at ACEN Australia, its profitability would have jumped by 150 percent on the back of a nearly threefold increase in core operating earnings.

In a stock exchange filing, ACEN said the adjustments included P8.6 billion “from various events” in 2022.

Revenues, meanwhile, rose by 4 percent to P36.5 billion due to fresh contributions from its Philippine and Australian businesses.

As of December, ACEN said its attributable capacity has reached 4.7 gigawatts (GW) from 4.4 GW the previous year.

Of this capacity, 37 percent is now fully operational, while 28 percent is already partially online. The remaining 35 percent is still being built.

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In the Philippines, ACEN’s renewables-based generation surged by 34 percent to 1,137 gigawatt-hours (GWh) on the back of stronger wind resources in the company’s wind farms. The company started commissioning for the 160-megawatt (MW) Pagudpud wind project in Ilocos Norte province in May 2023.

The first and second phases of SanMar Solar in Zambales with a combined 385 MW, and the 44-MW second phase of the Arayat-Mexico Solar in Pampanga likewise drove the rise in energy output, ACEN said.

Generation output overseas

Overseas, ACEN’s attributable generation output jumped by 31 percent to 3,328 GWh due to new solar and wind facilities in India and Australia.

“We look forward to 2024 with full commercial operations of newly commissioned plants, a continually growing pipeline, and in turn, continued progress toward our aspiration to achieve 20 GW in attributable renewables capacity by 2030,” said Eric Francia, ACEN president and CEO.

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Also on Monday, ACEN announced that it had signed a power purchase agreement with Australia-based SmartestEnergy for the latter to source renewable energy produced from the first stage of the New England solar project.

Under the eight-year deal, SmartestEnergy will buy 25 percent of the output of the 400-MW solar farm in order to reduce dependence on other power sources with higher carbon emissions.

The New England solar farm is ACEN Australia’s first operational project.

Once fully developed, it will have a capacity of 720 MW, making it one of Australia’s largest solar projects that will cater to around 300,000 Australian homes