AYALA-LED ACEN Corp. expects to invest more in energy projects overseas, the company’s top official for international ventures said about plans that are to be decided in the coming months.
“I would be surprised if we wouldn’t announce new investments overseas this year. I can see a few projects, which should be ready for investment decisions, in the next six to nine months,” Patrice R. Clausse, chief executive officer of ACEN Renewables International Pte. Ltd. (ACEN International) told reporters in a recent media briefing.
He said that the energy company is looking at working with existing partners.
“I do expect more investments overseas this year,” Mr. Clausse said. “It is hard to forecast the future in terms of new partners. I think certainly with existing partners, and on our own, I can see projects reaching investment decisions.”
To date, ACEN has around 4,200 megawatts of attributable capacity spread across the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia.
In April, the company announced its newest project in Lao People’s Democratic Republic — the Monsoon Wind Project. The project is a collaboration among ACEN, BCPG Public Co. Ltd., Impact Electrons Siam Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp., and SMP Consultation and STP&I Public Co. Ltd.
“We recently also signed a partnership with Impact Electrons for the Laos project. They are focused on projects in Laos for export, export either to Vietnam or other countries in the future,” he said.
The energy company said the power output of the project will then be sold to Vietnam’s state-owned electric utility, Vietnam Electricity, making it the first cross-border wind project in Southeast Asia.
“Then, also, we have a partnership with BrightNight from the US in India that is a developer focused on what they called baseload renewables,” Mr. Clausse said.
He described baseload renewables as combining technologies such as wind, solar, or battery to provide continuous power output.
Mr. Clausse added that they might expand this partnership to other geographies.
In March, ACEN said that it had partnered with US-based BrightNight LLC to develop and operate large-scale 1.2-gigawatt (GW) hybrid renewable energy projects in India.
ACEN is aiming to reach 20 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. — Ashley Erika O. Jose
