AC Energy and foreign partner UPC Renewables have formed a partnership that will construct a portfolio of solar power projects over 1 gigawatt (GW) in the next few years, with an initial focus on India, South Korea and Taiwan.
In the long term, the partnership called UPC-AC Energy Solar will have projects in the entire Asia-Pacific.
AC Energy is investing $20 million (P1.04 billion) in the partnership via a development loan to finance the development of this pipeline and expects to provide all the construction equity required for these projects.
“Our move to enter into a large and bankable solar market like India is consistent with AC Energy’s goal to exceed 5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2025, with at least 50 percent to be sourced from renewables,” said Patrice Clausse, AC Energy’s chief operating advisor.
AC Energy and UPC Renewables’ partnership started in 2013 for the development, construction and operations of North Luzon Renewables’ 81 MW wind farm project in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.
In 2017, the two groups also invested in PT UPC Sidrap Bayu Energi, developer of a 75 MW wind farm in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Last year, AC Energy announced it was investing as much as $30 million (P1.6 billion) for a 50 percent ownership in UPC’s Australian business aside from providing a $200 million (P10.4 billion) facility to fund project equity.
UPC Renewables Australia is developing the 1,000 MW Robbins Island and Jims Plain projects in North West Tasmania as well as the 600 MW New England Solar Farm located near Uralla in New South Wales. The company also has a further development portfolio of another 3,000 MW in NSW, Tasmania and Victoria.
Based on equity interest in power generation businesses, AC Energy owns approximately 1.7 GW of generation capacity in operations and under construction. The company aspires to exceed 5 GW of attributable capacity and generate at least fifty percent of energy from renewables by 2025.