AC Energy ties up with CleanTech for 200-MW solar farm in Cagayan

MANILA, Philippines — AC Energy Corp. (ACEN) has partnered with local renewable energy developer CleanTech Global Renewables Inc. for a solar farm development in Cagayan.

ACEN recently secured board approval for its joint venture with CleanTech for the 200-megawatt (MW) solar power project in Lal-lo, Cagayan.

The joint venture is subject to agreed conditions precedent, including applicable regulatory approvals, and subject to further execution of definitive documentation.

In terms of investment cost, ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said the company has yet to set the final amount since the parties are still negotiating for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.

“We’ll disclose that once we issue the NTP. We’re still in negotiations with the EPC so we don’t have a firm capex yet,” he said in a virtual roundtable discussion yesterday.

In terms of economic stake in the joint venture, Francia said its partner structure is a combination of common and preferred.

“We can only provide estimated economic shares because we would own different classes of shares. But to simplify these things, we just say approximately 80 percent economic stake because that’s our usual structure among partners,” he said.

CleanTech, an independent RE developer, has set an aspirational target of one gigawatt renewable energy assets by 2025.

So far, it has developed a 15-MW solar farm in Bulacan, which is eligible to receive feed-in tariff (FIT) rates. It is also completing a 22-MW solar farm expansion in Bulacan and is constructing a 20-MW solar project in Pangasinan.

The partnership with CleanTech is ACEN’s latest local partnership for the development of solar farms in the country.

ACEN recently partnered with the Singapore unit of German ib vogt to jointly put up an initial of 300 MW of solar projects.

ib vogt Singapore is an affiliate of ib vogt GmbH, a German company focused on developing and delivering high-quality large-scale turnkey photovoltaic plants worldwide.

Last January, ACEN signed preliminary binding agreements with Solar Philippines founded by Leandro Leviste and its affiliate Provincia Investments for possible joint ventures to develop solar power projects in the country.

It also signed a deed of absolute sale of shares with Solar Philippines Power to acquire 97.6 percent of Solar Philippines Central Luzon Corp.

ACEN is constructing the 72-MW Arayat-Mexico solar farm in Pampanga, a 50-50 joint venture with Citicore Renewable Energy Corp.

Citicore Power Inc. is one of the largest solar renewable energy providers with a wide geographical presence having eight solar assets across the country and a pipeline of 1,500 MW of renewable energy projects to be developed over the next five years.

ACEN is the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group. It  has 2,600 MW of attributable capacity in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia.

The company’s renewable share of capacity is at 80 percent, among the highest in the region.

ACEN aims to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia, with a goal of reaching 5,000 MW of renewables capacity by 2025.