ACEN secures AU$100-M green loan for Aussie projects
By Myrna M. Velasco – August 18, 2022, 4:54 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Ayala-led ACEN Corporation has secured 100 million Australian dollars (roughly $69 million in US dollars) green loan from the DBS Bank of Australia to partly bankroll its renewable energy (RE) ventures in that market.
“The loan will provide capital financing for ACEN’s eligible green assets in Australia as part of its strategic aspiration to grow its renewables capacity to 20 GW (gigawatts) by 2030,” the company said.
It emphasized that this long-term green loan facility “is part of ACEN’s aim to raise an initial issuance of over AUD 600 million to support the development of ACEN’s projects in Australia, which was announced earlier this year.”
DBS acted as the sole arranger and sustainability advisor for the AUD 100 million credit facility that was availed of by the Ayala firm.
Kelvin Wong, managing director and deputy head of Energy, Renewables and Infrastructure at DBS, noted “we aim to make a significant impact in this space, and create long term value for our stakeholders.”
According to Anton Rohner, chief executive officer of ACEN Australia, “the initial green loan facility with DBS will help advance our fund-raising capacity of over AUD 600 million in Australia to develop and construct existing and additional pipeline of renewable energy projects.”
The Ayala firm is currently advancing on the implementation of its 720-megawatt peak (MWp) New England solar farm project to be sited at east of Uralla in Australia, which it is also coupling with battery energy storage system.
ACEN International Chief Operating Officer (COO) Patrice Clausse indicated that their company is “committed to growing ACEN’s renewables platform backed by our vision to reach 20 GW of renewables by 2030.”
As competition in the RE development space heated up in recent months, the Ayala group had been prompted to scale up its target to 20,000MW by the turn of the decade – which is a significant leap from its 2025 goal of 5,000 megawatts.
The Ayala group’s current RE investments are generally focused on solar and wind farm installations; and investment expansions are being cast in the Philippines and Australia as well as its other offshore markets of Vietnam, India and the United States.
