ACEN Looks to Invest $8bn in Philippines’ RE Projects Until 2030

Philippines-based renewable energy firm ACEN Corp., the power generation arm of Ayala Corporation has major plans to construct 8,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects in the Philippines until 2030 with estimated investments of about $8 billion.

ACEN President and CEO, Eric Francia informed, “About 600 MW of RE capacity was already in operation,while 1,000 MW was under construction, of which 70 percent would soon be operational.”

Francia further noted that  the Philippines would be ACEN’s core market at 40 percent of the 20,000-MW target by 2030, followed by Australia with a footprint of 5,000 MW.

“In addition, we will continue to grow our presence in Vietnam, Indonesia and India. Onshore solar and wind will remain our core energy technologies, complemented by investments in new technologies such as battery energy storage, floating solar and offshore wind,” Francia said.

Dwelling on other plans CEO said that ACEN plans to build 3,000 MW in Indonesia, 2,000 MW in Vietnam and 2,000 MW in India by 2030.

“If you look at last couple of years, we’ve been starting close to one gigawatt of new projects every year. Today, we already have a little over 4 GW of capacity both operating and under construction,” Francia said.

“At some point, we have to ramp up or step up or go beyond 1 GW-per-year mark because if we stay at 1 GW per year with eight years to go, we’re not gonna get to 20 GW.ACEN would accelerate project development closer to 2 GW towards mid to end part of the decade.” he pointed out.

ACEN is also moving forward with its commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, supporting the  company’s ongoing growth and decarbonisation strategy.

Completing its net zero road-map in December, it has become the first  company in Southeast Asia to take the critical step towards achieving net zero, having  a transparent framework for monitoring progress.

“ACEN recognizes that to reach the net zero outcome for the power sector, it will need to rely on both emissions reduction and neutralization of residual emissions. As part of its transition plan, ACEN aims to deliver reduction-led decarbonisation by 2040, with an interim target for 2030, and a net zero status by 2050,”  he said.