• Philippine-listed company ACEN Corporation, the renewable energy platform of Ayala Corporation, is a significant participant in the Australian electricity market with over 1000 megawatts of solar capacity in operations and under construction in New South Wales
  • The company plans to triple its capacity to 3000 megawatts in the next three years, with a total investment of around 6 billion AUD across solar, wind, and battery storage projects in New South Wales, Tasmania, and Western Australia
  • Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation has supported the company’s aggressive renewables expansion with a 75 million AUD loan facility

Manila, 11 September 2023 – Philippine-listed company ACEN Corporation, the renewable energy platform of Ayala Corporation, announced that its Management Committee approved the acceleration of the company’s renewables expansion efforts in Australia from 1GW to 3GW of renewable energy capacity by the end of 2026. This decision comes from the success of its investments to date and the robust market opportunities presented by Australia’s push for decarbonization of its power grid to achieve its net zero targets and its ambitions to become a supplier of hydrogen to key markets worldwide.

During the signing ceremony and joint press statement at Malacanang Palace last week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “At the East Asia summit, I launched Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, which is aimed at increasing a two-way trade and investment. For the Philippines, the strategy identifies four sectors of particular potential: agriculture, education, resources, and the green energy transition. And today, we’ve had a constructive discussion about how that can occur.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is the first Australian prime minister to conduct a bilateral visit to the Philippines in 20 years. For more than three-quarters of a century, Australia and the Philippines have been bound by strategic trust, shared values, and mutual cooperation.

ACEN has established a solid footprint in Australia’s renewable energy sector, contributing significantly to the country’s clean energy transition and sustainability goals. ACEN’s commitment to developing and operating renewable energy assets further strengthens Australia’s position as a leader in renewable energy adoption.

Last March, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen inaugurated the start of operations of the 520MWp New England Solar Farm, while construction is in full swing at the 520MWp Stubbo Solar Farm in the Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone. Both projects are located in New South Wales, where the 2.5GW Lidell Coal Power Station shut earlier this year, and two more large and aging coal power plants have announced closures in the years to come. To accelerate the energy transition and ensure a reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy supply, various states have advanced Renewable Energy Zones to host new plants and have expanded the transmission network as part of the Australian government’s Rewiring the Nation program.

ACEN is working to expand its New England Solar farm by 400MWp in the coming months and add 400MWh of battery storage within the solar project location. ACEN is also advancing on its 800MW Valley of the Winds wind farm in central New South Wales, its 820MW Robbins Island and Jim’s Plain wind farm in Northwest Tasmania, and its Phoenix Pumped Storage Hydro project in New South Wales. These three projects are seen as significant to each state’s energy objectives and are in the advanced stages of permitting and approvals by federal and state agencies.

ACEN was the big winner in New South Wales’ recent Long Term Energy Service Agreement auctions (LTESA), with New England and Stubbo having awarded the contracts. ACEN has also partnered with Smartest Energy of Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to supply Woolworth’s NSW [257] supermarkets with clean energy on a long-term contract.

More recently, ACEN has announced that it has entered into a joint venture in Western Australia with the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation to develop, own and operate wind and solar assets on ancestral land in Northwest Western Australia.