Philippine Daily Inquirer

ACEN EXPANDING FOOTPRINT IN INDONESIA

- —JORDEENE B. LAGARE

AC Energy Corp. (Acen) of the Ayala Group is expanding its presence in Indonesia through a partnershi­p with Puri Usaha Group that will jointly develop renewable energy projects.

Both parties plan to form a joint venture to be called Suryagen Capital Pte. Ltd., which will undertake projects focusing on large-scale solar, battery energy storage systems and green hydrogen projects, subject to applicable regulatory approvals and execution of definitive documentat­ion.

The planned facilities will be put up in the Batam, Bintan and Karimun (BBK) islands as well as East Nusa Tenggara province, where most of Puri Usaha Group’s ongoing projects are located.

Puri Usaha Group, whose operations began in 1999, is a holding company with a focus on energy-related businesses. It identifies, develops and invests in power assets mainly under its subsidiary PT Puri Energi Kencana in Indonesia and Timor Leste.

Since 2016, the Jakarta-based firm has pivoted to renewable energy, with a vision to construct Indonesia’s first large-scale solar power and green hydrogen facility.

“The Puri Usaha Group was instrument­al in the formation of a consortium to participat­e in the recently announced ambitious cross border initiative to import renewable energy from

Indonesia for the Singaporea­n market, which is currently being run by the Energy Market Authority of Singapore,” said Acen in a disclosure.

Exporting to SG

The joint venture will work on its first project by next year, which involves building renewable power in Indonesia and exporting the power to Singapore via a subsea cable.

Patrice Clausse, chief operating officer of AC Energy Internatio­nal, said Indonesia “has tremendous potential to continue to grow and expand its renewable energy assets and we are excited about the potential of the Suryagen platform.”

“Acen is an ideal strategic partner for the Puri Usaha group to strengthen our overall capabiliti­es in undertakin­g our major projects around Indonesia beginning with the historic cross-border green electricit­y project from Batam to Singapore,” said Ben Subrata, CEO of Puri Usaha group of companies.

The latest partnershi­p is seen to boost Acen’s aspiration to become the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia and reach 5 gigawatts of renewables capacity by 2025.

At present, Acen has more than 3,800 megawatts of attributab­le capacity in the Philippine­s, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia. Of its power portfolio, 87 percent or 3,300 MW consisted of renewable energy.

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