ACEN may hit 5 GW RE goal ahead of 2025 target

MANILA, Philippines — ACEN Corp. is poised to reach its five gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity target very soon, ahead of its 2025 original schedule, as the company prepares to complete more projects in the next few months.

“I cannot say if it’s end of the year, early next year, but somewhere in that neighborhood. So we can close that chapter and really focus on the 20-GW target by 2030,” ACEN president and CEO Eric Francia said in an interview on the sidelines of a forum organized by BusinessWorld yesterday.

Before pushing forward with its bigger 20 GW of renewables capacity target by 2030, the listed energy platform of the Ayala group has first sets its sights on a five-GW target by 2025. 

“We can reach that earlier than 2025 with high degree of confidence because we’re already at close to 4,500 megawatts (MW). That doesn’t include yet the wind project that we won in the green energy auction that’s scalable to more than 300 MW,” Francia said. 

“And then we do have other renewable energy projects that are expected to reach financial close fairly soon,” he said.

Francia said ACEN is also building 1,100-MW of solar and wind projects, of which 700 MW of that is expected to be operational in the next three to six months.

 “So, it’s around the corner. Getting to the 5,000 MW mark is a stone’s throw away,” he said.

ACEN currently has a diversified portfolio of 4.4 GW in renewables, with 38 percent or 1.7 GW in operation. 

The company’s operating capacity is expected to grow further in the next few months as New England Solar, Pagudpud Wind  and Masaya Solar reach full capacity.

ACEN aims to be the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia with a goal of reaching 20 GW of renewables capacity by 2030. 

The company is also committed to transition the its generation portfolio to 100 percent renewable energy by 2025 and to become a net zero greenhouse gas emissions company by 2050.