ACEN gets AU$75 million funding for Australia projects

MANILA, Philippines — ACEN Corp. has secured a 75-million Australian dollar funding from the Clean Energy Finance Corp. (CEFC) to develop large-scale clean energy assets across Australia.

ACEN said the CEFC investment would accelerate eight gigawatts (GW) of clean energy portfolio in Australia that includes solar, wind, battery and pumped hydro.

The CEFC finance is part of an ACEN Australia borrowing program of  AU$600 million.

It also follows a AU$140 million long-term, green loan agreement with Japanese lender MUFG and a AU$100 million facility agreement with DBS Bank.

ACEN subsidiary ACEN Australia Pty. Ltd. will use the loan to further develop its portfolio of Australian clean energy assets.

“ACEN Australia is pleased to be working with the CEFC in decarbonizing Australia. The debt facilities provided will allow ACEN Australia to expedite our fully developed 400-megawatt (MW) Stubbo Solar project,” ACEN Australia CEO Anton Rohner said.

ACEN Australia has more than 1.5-GW of projects at an advanced stage of development, including the New England Solar project currently under construction.

Other projects include New England Battery, Stubbo Solar and Valley of the Winds projects in the NSW New England and Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zones, as well as the Robbins Island and Jim’s Plain Wind project in North-West Tasmania.

“Australia needs significant investment to create a 21st century energy mix that decarbonizes the grid while delivering a reliable and secure energy supply. With this investment, the CEFC is helping deliver the assets that are critical to reaching net zero emissions by 2050,” CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth said.

“Importantly, the CEFC is confirming its commitment to the developers who are delivering more clean energy generation.  As developers face new challenges from supply chain constraints and increased costs, the CEFC continues to stand by them to ensure that the momentum it helped build in those early years is maintained and strengthened,” Learmonth said.

ACEN is the listed energy platform of Philippine diversified group Ayala, with an 18-GW development portfolio throughout  Asia-Pacific.

The company is seeking to grow its renewables capacity to 20 GW by 2030.