ACEN 9-month income slightly down to P5.35 B
By Myrna M. Velasco – November 8, 2022, 4:45 PM
from Manila Bulletin
The nine-month income of ACEN Corporation, the energy investment arm of the Ayala group with domestic and offshore market-operations, declined slightly to P5.35 billion this year from a heftier P6.37 billion in the same period in 2021.
Data submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed ACEN posted consolidated net income attributable to parent firm at P4.120 billion for January to September period this 2022, slightly down from P4.270 billion last year.
For the third quarter alone, the company’s earnings had been slightly up to P2.398 billion compared to the year-ago level of P2.255 billion.
On the revenue front, the Ayala firm reported an increase to P25.243 billion within January to September this 2022 versus last year’s P18.883 billion in a comparative period. For third quarter, revenues climbed higher to P9.274 billion from last year’s P5.468 billion.
While reinforcing both its top and bottom lines, ACEN has also been advancing the completion of several projects, both in the Philippines and its offshore markets, including big-ticket projects in Australia.
On Monday, Nov. 7, the Ayala firm announced that its Australian subsidiary had already executed key contracts that supported final investment decision (FID) accorded to its 400-megawatt (or 520MWdc) Stubbo solar project in Australia.
ACEN said it committed a funding of 400 million Australian dollars (AUD) to the project, which is anticipated to kick off on its construction phase by the latter part of this year.
“This follows on from the signing of the connection agreement with Lumea and execution of a PV (photovoltaic) module supply contract this week,” the Ayala energy company emphasized.
The company added “with construction due to commence in late 2022, Stubbo Solar is expected to create up to 400 jobs during construction and up to 10 ongoing jobs, generating many contracting opportunities for local businesses.”
Upon completion, the Stubbo solar farm installation is expected to provide renewable energy-generated electricity to more than 185,000 average home-users in its Australian home market.
In tandem with the solar PV installation, ACEN noted that the project will also integrate a 200-megawatt hour (MWh) battery energy storage system, “allowing for the project to later on be adapted to dispatch energy when it is most needed during peak hours and provide important grid stability services.”
As conveyed by Anton Rohner, chief executive officer of ACEN Australia, the solar project will be integrated into the 330-kilovolt Transgrid network, with him noting that “the ability to get the connection agreement done illustrates the value of ACEN Australia’s strategy of connecting into secure and robust parts of the Transgrid Network.”
This is the second massive-scale solar farm development that ACEN will be pursuing in Australia the other one is the 720MW New England solar farm venture.
Richard Lowe, CEO of Lumea stated that the signing of the deal with ACEN, “is an important milestone in the transition to a cleaner grid and delivering cheaper energy to regional areas for the future.”
