ACEN spends P1.2 billion for Zambales solar venture

MANILA, Philippines — ACEN Corp. is spending the remaining proceeds of a preferred share offering to power the development of eligible green projects in Central Luzon.

In a regulatory filing, the Ayala Group’s listed energy platform said it has disbursed about P1.16 billion to finance its solar projects in Zambales.

The disbursement report was made in compliance with the supplemental listing and disclosure requirements of the Philippine Stock Exchange for petroleum and renewable energy (RE) companies.

ACEN completed its maiden peso-denominated preferred share sale in September 2023, successfully raising some P25 billion in fresh funds.

The proceeds from the fund raising activity were used to bankroll the company’s eligible green projects and enable more than one gigawatt (GW) of RE developments in the Philippines.

The energy firm is currently constructing Palauig Solar 2, its second-biggest solar farm in Zambales, near ACEN’s 63-megawatt (MW) Palauig Solar 1.

With a 90 GW-hour output, Palauig Solar 1 began contributing clean energy to the Luzon grid in April 2021.

Palauig Solar 2 is expected to produce more than 450 GWh of clean energy annually.

The Zambales solar farms can sustainably power an equivalent of over 130,000 homes and reduce around 350,000 tons of carbon emissions per year, ACEN said.

Earlier this month, ACEN announced an additional investment of P8.7 billion into special-purpose vehicle Giga Ace 8 Inc. for the proposed 300 MW peak and 237 MW Palauig Solar 2.

The company’s portfolio currently includes around 4.8 GW of RE capacity across the Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

Moving ahead, ACEN plans to raise about $15 billion in new capital to quadruple its attributable RE capacity to 20 GW by 2030.

It is looking to finance its clean energy investments through a mix of debt and equity.