New power plants continued to fire up ACEN Corp.’s financial performance, with its earnings surging by 24-percent in the first nine months of this year.
The Ayala Group’s energy platform reported on Thursday that its consolidated net income reached P8.14 billion for the January-September period, from P6.6 billion a year ago.
Core attributable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) also rocketed by 30 percent to P14.3 billion.
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ACEN owed this solid growth to the further expansion of its renewable energy portfolio, with more facilities switched on early this year.
ACEN wants to be a pure renewables company and has been aggressive in reaching its goal of 20,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030. Its remaining fossil-fuel based asset is the 1,336-MW coal-fired GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. in Bataan.
In the third quarter alone, the company also realized gains amounting to P1 billion from Ayala Land’s acquisition of its Zambales property.
The energy firm said electricity generated from its renewables assets rose to 4,127 gigawatt hours (GWh), a 31-percent jump from a year ago, even with the seasonality of wind and solar power.
“The output from ACEN’s new plants helped cushion the expected impact of resource seasonality in the third quarter and ensured continued growth and stability in our financial and operational metrics,” said Jonathan Back, ACEN chief financial officer and chief strategy officer.
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In the Philippine market, ACEN said green power plants generated 1,370 GWh from January to September, surging 78 percent compared to the same period last year.
The bulk of this or 56 percent came from plants activated this year, such as the SanMar Solar in Zambales, Pagudpud Wind and Capa Wind in Ilocos Norte, Cagayan North Solar in Cagayan, and Arayat-Mexico Solar phase 2 in Pampanga.
For its operations abroad, ACEN said it generated 2,741 GWh, up 15 percent from a year ago, driven mainly by two big projects it launched this year—the New England Solar in Australia and the Masaya Solar in India.