ACEN grants loan guarantee to subsidiary

By Lenie Lectura – July 26, 2024
from Business Mirror

ACEN Corp. has signed a P1.92-billion loan agreement with its subsidiary Santa Cruz Solar Energy Inc. to fund the latter’s capital expenditure (capex) for its solar power project in Zambales.

The capex is meant to finance Phase 3 of the San Marcelino solar power project with a capacity of 200 megawatts (MW).

Phase 3 is expected to be completed in the last quarter of next year.

“ACEN executed a loan agreement with Santa Cruz Solar Energy Inc. for P1,920,000,000.00 loan to fund the capital expenditure requirements for the San Marcelino Solar Power Project Phase 3 in San Marcelino, Zambales,” the power firm of conglomerate Ayala Corp. said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday.

Phase 1 (284MW) and 2 (101MW) of the solar power project are already injecting power into the grid since January.

ACEN has already effectively surpassed its goal of reaching 5 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2025, almost two years ahead of schedule. Of this capacity, 65 percent is now fully operational. Having passed the 5 GW goal almost two years ahead of schedule, ACEN is in a strong position to realize its vision to reach 20 GW of renewables by 2030.

The company’s net income at end-March rose by 34 percent year-on-year to P2.7 billion.