ACEN’s 720-MW solar project in Australia prepares for operations

By Alena Mae S. Flores – March 20, 2023, 7:00 pm
from manilastandard.net

ACEN Corp. said Monday it is gearing up for the full operations of the first stage of ACEN Australia’s 720-megawatt New England Solar project following its recent launch, which marked a milestone in the project’s six-year journey to generate clean renewable energy.

The New England Solar project one is one of Australia’s largest solar projects participating in the electricity market, with the first stage of 400 MW requiring the installation of close to a million solar panels.

“The event is an important milestone for the energy transformation underway across NSW and Australia…The work ACEN Australia is doing to accelerate Australia’s transition to a renewable energy future is here and now – and it starts with New England Solar. We decided to build New England Solar on a fully merchant basis to ensure it is online in time to help replace closing coal fired power stations in NSW. We wanted to get things built, to decarbonize Australia,” ACEN Australia chief executive Anton Rohner said.

The first stage of the New England Solar, located near Uralla in the NSW Government’s New England Renewable Energy Zone, was approved by the NSW Government in 2020 and has been in construction since March 2021.

The project was granted formal registration to send power into the NEM by the Australian Energy Market Organization in December 2022, and since that time, has been generating renewable energy.

Stage 1 of the project is expected to be generating at full capacity in the coming months. During construction, up to 400 workers have been on-site during peak activity, upgrading and maintaining roads, installing and building supporting infrastructure and constructing and connecting tracking systems and installing solar PV modules.

Around 80 percent of this peak workforce has been filled by personnel from the New England region. “Together with our contracting partner GLC, we’ve navigated a global pandemic coupled with an extended La Niña leading to extremely challenging weather conditions for the construction team who have executed the project safely,” Rohner said.

ACEN Australia is investing more than AU$5 million in community funding into Uralla over the next 25 years as part of New England Solar.

“ACEN Australia has around one gigawatt capacity worth $ 1 billion in construction, and more than 8 GW capacity in the development pipeline. This represents ACEN’s largest investment outside of the Philippines,” ACEN president and chief executive Eric Francia said.

“With this milestone, we reaffirm our commitment to strengthen Australia’s energy security while bolstering its roadmap to a low carbon future as we work towards our goal of 20 GW of renewables by 2030,” Francia said.

Stubbo Solar in the NSW Central Orana Renewable Energy Zone is ACEN Australia’s second project which commenced construction in late 2022.

Other ACEN Australia projects include New England Battery (NSW), Birriwa Solar (NSW), Valley of the Winds (NSW), Aquila Wind (NSW), Phoenix Pumped Hydro (NSW), Robbins Island and Jim’s Plain Wind (TAS) and North East Wind (TAS).

ACEN Australia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ACEN, the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group.

The company has about 4,030 MW of attributable capacity from owned facilities in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India and Australia.

ACEN wants to put up 20 GW of renewables capacity by 2030.