ACEN starts operations of power plant in Pililia

MANILA, Philippines — AC Energy Corp. (ACEN) is bumping up the Luzon grid’s supply by 150 megawatts (MW) with the commercial operations of its diesel plant in Pililia, Rizal.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, ACEN said its 150-MW quick response diesel power plant in Pililla, Rizal is expected to help remediate the spate of power supply disruptions and augment the energy supply amidst the Malampaya shutdown by starting to supply essential peaking and reserve power.

The P1.9-billion diesel fired power plant is a joint venture project with Axia Power Holdings Philippines Corp., a subsidiary of Japan-based Marubeni Corp.

To ensure high availability for the plant, a UK-based company Aggreko installed 162 units of diesel generators, providing enough spare capacity.

Aggreko will also provide operations and maintenance services to the Ingrid plant.

“Thermal firming capacity is critical to our energy transition strategy toward a lower carbon portfolio. To complement our renewables and to provide flexibility and stability to the grid, these firming assets will remain in our portfolio while we develop to scale up our energy storage facilities,” ACEN’s chief development officer Jose Maria Zabaleta said.

The 150-MW diesel plant is the third plant to be switched on by ACEN in the Philippines this year, behind the 120-MW GigaSol Alaminos in Laguna and the 63 MW GigaSol Palauig in Zambales.

The company is also gearing up for the start of operations of its 40 hour (MWh) battery storage plant in Alaminos, Laguna and another four-MW in Bataan.

ACEN aims to help address the critically thin reserves by accelerating the development of its pipeline of power plants in the Philippines as electricity demand continues to well up in a country in need of additional energy capacities and a stable transmission network.

The company is also at the forefront of energy transition, with 2,100 MW in renewables capacity.

The listed energy platform of the Ayala Group has 2,600 MW of attributable capacity in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia, with its renewable share of capacity at 80 percent, among the highest in the region.

ACEN aspires to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, and is on track to attain its goal of reaching 5,000 MW of renewables capacity by 2025.