MANILA, Philippines — ACEN Australia, a subsidiary of the Ayala Group’s ACEN, has officially commenced stage 1 of its New England Solar project, marking a milestone in its six-year journey to generate clean renewable energy into the National Electricity Market (NEM).
It was officially opened last week by Chris bowen, federal minister for climate change.
The estimated 720-megawatt New England Solar project is being developed in two stages.
The initial 400 MW stage of the project started construction in March 2021. It is one of Australia’s largest solar projects that have participated in the NEM, with Stage 1 requiring the installation of close to a million solar panels.
New England Solar was granted formal registration to send power into the NEM by the Australian Energy Market Organization (AEMO) in December 2022 and has since been generating renewable energy.
ACEN Australia CEO Anton Rohner said the event is an important milestone for the energy transformation underway across NSW and Australia.
“I truly believe that the work ACEN Australia is doing to accelerate Australia’s transition to a renewable energy future is here and now – and it starts with New England Solar. We decided to build New England Solar on a fully merchant basis to ensure it is online in time to help replace closing coal fired power stations in NSW. We wanted to get things built, to decarbonize Australia,” he said.
“They are at the heart of what we do, and I want to personally thank them for putting their trust in us. Through their support, we are together in pushing the boundaries of traditional industry thinking and pioneering modern projects for modern energy needs. It’s been a team effort. Together with our contracting partner GLC, we’ve navigated a global pandemic, coupled with an extended La Niña leading to extremely challenging weather conditions for the construction team who have executed the project safely,” Rohner said.
Eric Francia, ACEN president and CEO, said ACEN Australia has around 1 GW capacity worth $1 billion in construction, and more than eight GW capacity in the development pipeline.
“This represents ACEN’s largest investment outside of the Philippines. With this milestone, we reaffirm our commitment to strengthen Australia’s energy security while bolstering its roadmap to a low carbon future as we work toward our goal of 20 GW of renewables by 2030,” Francia said.
ACEN Australia, a subsidiary of ACEN, has a pipeline of solar, wind, battery and pumped hydro and energy storage projects across Australia.
It is committed to transition the company’s generation portfolio to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025 and to become a net zero greenhouse gas emissions company by 2050.