ACEN seeks more lead time to build clean energy facilities

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ACEN Corp., the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group, expressed interest in joining the government’s next round of clean energy auction but hopes more time would be allotted for putting up the necessary facilities.

“Depending on the size of the bid and the tenor, we’re interested but hopefully there’s enough time to prepare … for the project itself, the commercial operations date,” its president and chief executive John Eric Francia told reporters late last week.

“I don’t think anyone can build an Iress plant in one year,” he added.

Integrated Renewable Energy and Energy Storage System (Iress) is a facility that has a storage system where excess power is kept to ensure constant supply especially since its fuel source, such as sunlight and wind, could be unreliable through most of the day.

The fourth round of the Green Energy Auction, slated by the last quarter of the year, would put on the auction block slots for the development of such facilities.

Francia said building a massive project like Iress was “not that easy.”

For example, to produce 500 megawatts (MW) of mid-merit capacity or gap filler, a 1,800-MW solar plant and a 2,000 megawatt-hour energy storage would have to be built, he said.

Aside from consolidating land areas, players would also need to establish infrastructure, he said.For this magnitude, Francia said three to five years were needed to construct the necessary infrastructures alone.

“So if the bid will be [by the] end of this year, ideally the timing would be 2028, 2029, 2030,” he said.

Francia shared that ACEN has a massive infrastructure in San Marcelino, Zambales with 7 kilometers of roads, bridges, a major dike, flood protection and a transmission connection. He said the group was eyeing to convert it to an Iress, but the official did not mention a clear timeline for this plan.

Last week, the Department of Energy also said that it was looking at bidding out capacity from liquefied natural gas.

The Green Energy Auction Program seeks to accelerate the growth of renewable energy and cut the country’s carbon emissions. The government seeks to increase the share of clean energy in the power mix to 50 percent by 2040 from the current 22 percent. —Lisbet K. Esmael INQ