Ayala unit building 800 MW of renewable projects
By Alena Mae S. Flores – September 30, 2018 at 07:50 pm
from manilastandard.net
AC Energy, the power generation arm of conglomerate Ayala Corp., plans to develop an additional 800 megawatts of renewable energy projects in the country within five years.
AC Energy said in a report it was looking to build 600 MW of solar and 200 MW of wind capacities.
“They are primarily greenfield over next five years. Projects are still in early development stage so no project cost at this point,” said AC Energy president and chief executive Eric Francia, when asked to comment.
Francia said AC Energy would determine whether the projects could be undertaken with partners.
AC Energy is also scaling up its international renewable energy platform with investments in Vietnam (1,200 MW of solar and wind capacity), Indonesia (400 MW of wind and geothermal capacity) and Australia (1,700 MW of solar and wind capacity).
The company targets to exceed 5,000 MW of power generation capacity by 2025, which will require equity investments of about $2 billion.
The company now has over 1,200 MW of attributable capacity in operation and under construction across the region. It recently sold some of its coal assets to Aboitiz Power Corp.
AC Energy’s coal or thermal portfolio will decrease to 800 MW from 1,300 MW after the selldown.
Aboitiz Power acquired a 49-percent voting interest and 60-percent economic stake in AA Thermal Inc., Ayala Group’s thermal or coal asset platform for $579.2 million (P31.4 billion).
The sale involves around 500 megawatts of coal capacity out of AC Energy Inc.’s total 1,300-MW coal platform.
The AA Thermal platform will initially consist of AC Energy’s limited partnership interests in GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co., the owner and operator of a 632-MW coal plant in Mariveles, Bataan and in GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co., the developer and owner of a 1,336-MW supercritical coal plant project in Dinginin, Bataan which is currently under construction.
Once completed, the acquisition will increase Aboitiz Power’s ownership in the Mariveles coal plant to 78.325 percent and in the Dinginin coal plant project to 70 percent.
“This transaction enables AC Energy to balance its portfolio and provides capital for our growth initiatives, including our renewable energy projects,” Francia said.
Aboitiz Power will pay AC Energy a one-time lump sum payment at closing for a total consideration of $579.2 million.
