By
Lenie Lectura - July 31, 2018
AC Energy Inc.
is determined to finalize within the year the planned sale of its
thermal-energy assets.
“We are still in the
middle of the process, but we expect to finalize our decision within the year,”
AC Energy President Eric Francia said.
He said the power unit
of conglomerate Ayala Corp. is in talks with “both international and local
partners” that could be interested in taking a stake in the power firm. He
declined to elaborate.
When asked how many
firms are interested, Francia said, “There’s a good number of interest we
are assessing. I am confident we will arrive at a decision even if we are at
the assessment stage. We still have time to decide and sign an agreement within
the year. But we don’t want to rush into it because there’s a lot of
nuisance in the process. The objective is to decide and sign something within
the year.”
Earlier,
San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Aboitiz Power Corp. said they would look into
the thermal-energy assets that are up for sale.
AC Energy’s entire
power-generation portfolio of 1,600 megawatts (MW) carries an estimated value
of $2.6 billion, investment group CLSA Ltd. said. Of the $2.6 billion,
thermal assets comprise 80 percent, or $2 billion.
Its thermal assets
include the 668-MW GN Power Dinginin Ltd. Co. coal plant in Bataan; the 604-MW
GNPower Mariveles; the 2×135-MW coal-fired power plant in Calaca, Batangas,
under South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.; and the 4×135-MW coal-fired power plant
in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte in Mindanao through GN Power Kauswagan Ltd. Co.
By 2025 the company
expects to expand its overall energy capacity to more than 5,000 MW from 1,600
MW currently. Its energy mix includes 1,300 MW in thermal energy and 300
MW in renewable energy (RE).
“I would expect around
70 percent of our RE target of 1,000 MW to be international and 30 percent
local. In the next few weeks, we expect to reach financial close for solar
in Vietnam,” he added.
AC Energy has partnered
with the BIM Group to jointly develop over 300 MW of solar-power projects
in Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam.
Also in Vietnam, AC
Energy and the delegation of Quang Binh province earlier signed a memorandum
of understanding to develop the 325-MW B&T wind farm in Quang Binh province
with a total investment of $493 million.
The project will be
started with an initial phase of 252 MW with a cost of $353 million.
In Indonesia the 75-MW
Sidrap wind farm of AC Energy and UPC Renewables Indonesia Ltd. went
online in March. Also, 637 MW of steam and power from the Darajat and Salak
geothermal fields in West Java is being operated by a joint venture that
includes AC Energy as part of the company’s acquisition of Chevron
Indonesia’s assets.
In Australia AC Energy
announced an investment of $230 million to acquire a 50-percent stake in the
Australian business of UPC Renewables. Also, AC Energy will provide a
$200-million facility to fund project equity.
Both are developing the
1,000-MW Robbins Island and Jims Plain projects in North West Tasmania, and the
600-MW New England Solar Farm near Uralla in New South Wales.
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