ACEN ALLOCATING P 72B THIS YEAR FOR RENEWABLE PROJECTS

ACEN Corp., the listed power platform of the Ayala Group, will set aside P72 billion in capital expenditures (capex) this year for the development and expansion of renewable energy projects here in the Philippines and abroad.

In a briefing on Wednesday, ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said the budget allocation for 2024 is a portion of the $15 billion (approximately P862.5 billion) the company is expected to spend up to 2030 to hit its target of 20 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity.

ACEN chief finance officer Jonathan Back said for this year, more than P40 billion would be earmarked for clean energy projects in the Philippines.

According to Francia, the investment in renewables is roughly $1.6 billion for every 1.6 GW.

“We ended last year with cash in our balance sheet of just under P40 billion. That’s obviously going to fund a lot of this capex plus additional financing mostly from bilateral loans whether it’s ... at the project level, project finance from banks basically,” Francia said.

ACEN will be allocating the budget for projects such as the 385-megawatt (MW) San Marcelino solar power project and the 300-MW Palauig 2 solar project, both located in Zambales province, and the 335-MW Isla wind project in the provinces of Laguna and Quezon.

“Then, there’s probably gonna be another solar plant yet to be confirmed within the year,” Francia said.

For its other major markets, the company has six ongoing projects with a total capacity of 1.6 GW that have recently started operations and are expected to deliver close to full-year output this year.

Some of these facilities include the 400-MW solar power project in India and the 500MW solar in Australia.

ACEN is aspiring to attain 20 GW in attributable renewable capacity by 2030 and become a net zero greenhouse gas emissions company by 2050.

As it transitions its generation portfolio to 100-percent renewables by 2025, ACEN aims to become the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia.

At present, ACEN has about 4.7 GW of renewables capacity in the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Laos and the United States.

On top of this, ACEN has either signed agreements or won competitive tenders for a total capacity of more than 1 GW.