ACEN Corp. added more renewable energy capacity to its portfolio with the full operations of the first 72 megawatts (MW) phase of the Arayat-Mexico solar farm in Pampanga yesterday.
The project, which is a joint venture with Citicore, is capable of supplying electricity to approximately 45,000 homes and will help avoid an estimated 72,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
ACEN said the P2.9 billion solar facility was completed in less than a year since its groundbreaking in June 2021, The second 44 MW phase is expected to be commissioned by the second quarter of 2023.
“Citicore’s engineering excellence and end-to-end project development capabilities, from construction to commissioning, enabled a fast turnaround time for the completion of this maiden joint venture project with ACEN,” said Oliver Tan, president and chief executive officer of Citicore Renewable Energy Corp., in a statement.
ACEN recently increased its capacity target to 20,000 MW by 2030 from clean energy sources.
The company’s current capacity and pipeline of projects will exceed the earlier target of 5,000 MW of RE by 2025. ACEN has over 3,400 MW from sustainable sources to date.
ACEN currently has 18,000 MW of RE pipeline across the region, which will help it achieve the company’s 2030 goals.
It added the Philippines will remain as the core market, which currently accounts for 40 percent of total capacity and is expected to remain at this level.
The company also plans to aggressively grow its investments in Australia which is expected to be its second largest market within the decade, while also growing its presence in Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
ACEN said solar and wind technologies will remain its core energy technologies, complemented by investments in new technologies such as battery energy storage, floating solar and offshore wind. – Jed Macapagal
