ACEN prepares $200-M equity investment to build solar projects in Asia

MANILA, Philippines — ACEN, the listed power unit of conglomerate Ayala Corp., will invest up to $200 million in equity financing to construct massive solar power plants in Asia in a bid to further hike its clean energy portfolio.

This is on top to new debts that ACEN will incur to fund the solar plants, the company told the stock exchange on Monday.

To make this project happen, ACEN said it will partner with German solar project firm ib vogt to create a platform that would have a minimum operational capacity of 1,000 MW over the coming years. ACEN will pour all the equity investment and additional borrowings to the joint venture “to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in Asia”.

“ACEN has a strong history of partnering with best-in-class energy developers to build renewable energy projects across the Asia Pacific region,” Patrice Clausse, president and COO of ACEN International, said in a statement.

ACEN said its plantform with ib vogt will focus on “late-stage, shovel-ready” projects in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, Bangladesh and other countries in the region.

The majority of projects will stem from ib vogt’s Asia development pipeline of more than 5,000 MW, with initial projects planned to go into construction this year. The ACEN-backed platform is also open to acquire late-stage projects from local and regional developers.

As it is, the new solar platform would bode well for ACEN’s ambitions. The company wants to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with a goal of reaching 5,000 MW of renewables capacity by 2025.

So far, ACEN has over 3,800 MW of attributable capacity in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral