ACEN-ib vogt joint venture targets ‘shovel-ready’ solar projects in Asia
ACEN Corp. said its subsidiary is proceeding with its partnership with German solar developer ib vogt (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. to set up a platform to fund at least 1,000 megawatts (MW) of solar projects in Asia.
In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the Ayala-led company said the shareholder’s agreement for the joint venture of the ACEN Renewables International Pte. Ltd. and ib vogt had been declared effective on Aug. 18 after regulatory approvals and conditions had been satisfied.
“The joint venture will focus on shovel-ready projects in Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and other countries in the Asia Pacific region, with a minimum target operational capacity of 1,000 MW,” the company said.
In its disclosure on April 4, 2022, ACEN said it was expecting equity investments under the terms of the deal of up to $200 million “in addition to debt funding to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy in Asia.”
The two companies will set up a funding platform that will be used for the construction and operation of large-scale solar power plants across the region.
In a televised interview on ANC’s Market Edge, ACEN President and Chief Executive Officer Eric T. Francia said the partnership is part of the company’s target.
“That is part of our 20-gigawatt plan, so that would represent 5% of our overall target. Our core strategy really is to focus our organic development efforts both in the Philippines and Australia where we have an end-to-end capability from development to operations,” he said.
“We will continue to work with partners to further our expansion outside of our core market simply because we don’t have the bandwidth,” he said. “But we do want to participate in the regional or even global energy transition, but we don’t want to spread ourselves too thinly so working with partners is a way to go.”
At the stock exchange on Tuesday, ACEN shares fell by 17 centavos or 3.24% to close at P5.07 apiece. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
