ACEN lends P1.9 billion to solar unit

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led ACEN Corp. has extended a loan facility of P1.92 billion to its subsidiary, Santa Cruz Solar Energy Inc., to bankroll the development of a solar project in Zambales.

In a disclosure, the Ayala Group’s listed energy platform said it executed a loan agreement with Santa Cruz Solar to finance the capital expenditure requirements for phase 3 of the San Marcelino solar project.

Santa Cruz Solar is a special-purpose vehicle for the development of the ACEN Group’s renewable energy (RE) projects in the Philippines.

ACEN said it has successfully completed the initial phases of the San Marcelino project, which has been generating a capacity of 385 megawatts (MW) and injecting power into the Luzon grid since January.

Upon completion of phase 3, the company expects a total capacity of 585 MW for the entire project.

Just two weeks ago, ACEN infused an additional capital of P467.75 million into another special purpose vehicle, Belenos Energy Corp., to fund the latter’s potential RE investments.

Earlier this month, the company, through ACEN Renewables International Pte. Ltd., signed a five-year syndicated green term loan and revolving credit facility of $150 million from foreign lenders led by Taiwan’s CTBC Bank Group.

The loan is expected to bolster the listed firm’s clean energy portfolio in the Asia-Pacific region.

Currently, ACEN has about 4.8 gigawatts (GW) of attributable RE capacity in operation and under construction, on top of the recently signed agreements and competitive tenders worth over one GW.

By 2030, the company wants to quadruple its attributable RE capacity to 20 GW.