ACEN, Norway investment fund plan joint venture

ACEN Corp. is set to enter a joint venture with an investment fund based in Norway to provide solar power to telecommunications towers in the Philippines.

In a stock exchange disclosure on Tuesday, the Ayala-led energy company said its executive committee had approved on July 10 the proposed joint venture with the Norwegian Investment Fund or Norfund to invest in YMP Telecom Power, Inc.

The proposal is for ACEN and Norfund to fund YMP’s projects to bring “sustainable and affordable telecom tower solarization solutions in the Philippines, on terms as presented and subject to definitive documentation.”

ACEN described Norfund as Norway’s investment fund for developing countries with total commitments by its government of 26.9-billion Norwegian krone or $2.5 billion.

It said the fund is used “as a tool for strengthening the private sector in developing countries.”

On its website, YMP described itself as a leading company in Southeast Asia engaged in distributed renewable energy that encourages telecom operators and tower companies to decarbonize.

The company designs, procures, installs, and maintains solar and solar-hybrid power plants to allow telecom companies to save on diesel, YMP said.

Last year, Norfund said it was looking at investing in renewable energy projects in the Philippines, which it tagged as an important market for its billion-dollar fund.

A representative of ACEN said the terms of the joint venture were still being finalized ahead of a separate disclosure once definitive agreements have been signed.

Meanwhile, ACEN said its executive committee had also approved the extension of the maturity date for one year of the P7.4-billion loan provided by ACEN to Greencore Power Solution 3.

Greencore Power is a special-purpose vehicle of ACEN and Citicore Solar Energy Corp. It manages the Arayat solar project.

ACEN targets to install 20 gigawatts of attributable renewable energy capacity by 2030.

To date, the company has around 4,200 megawatts of attributable capacity spread across the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia.    

At the local bourse on Tuesday, shares in the company went up by two centavos or 0.39% to end at P5.19 apiece. — A.E.O. Jose