ACEN spending P26 billion for integrated solar project

MANILA, Philippines — Ayala-led ACEN Corp. is spending about P26 billion to develop a massive solar farm with a battery energy storage system (BESS) component in Palauig, Zambales.

ACEN, through Giga Ace 8 Inc., is seeking clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to increase the capacity and land area of its existing 346-megawatt peak (MWp) solar project.

Considering the expansion of the land area to 369.83 hectares from 275 hectares, the proposed final project capacity is 420 MWp for the solar plant and 1,238.5 MW hours for the BESS.

Giga Ace 8 is a special-purpose vehicle for the development of the ACEN Group’s renewable energy (RE) projects in the Philippines.

“The Giga Ace 8 solar power project aims to achieve sustainable development and supply electricity to the Luzon grid to address the expected lack of supply and increasing demand for power,” the company said.

Due to the inability of solar facilities to supply power during the night, the BESS component of the project is expected to help address this concern.

Giga Ace 8 said the plant’s output will primarily be generated from solar power during daylight hours, with any excess solar generation stored in the BESS for use in the event of an energy deficit.

“As solar generation diminishes, the battery will start to discharge into the grid until it is fully depleted,” it noted.

The construction of the components under the existing environmental compliance certificate is underway and is scheduled for completion by the first quarter of 2026.

Commercial operations of these components are targeted in the second quarter of 2026.

The development of the proposed additional area, meanwhile, will begin as early as January 2026, with commercial operations set by 2030.

The completion of this integrated solar development forms part of ACEN’s overarching goal of expanding its attributable RE capacity to 20 gigawatts (GW) over the next six years.

The listed energy platform of the Ayala Group currently boasts a global generation portfolio of around 6.8 GW consisting of fully operational assets, projects under construction and committed developments.