Published
By Myrna M. Velasco
The renewable energy
investment platform of the Ayala group is cementing capacity boost of 200
megawatts (MW)for its solar portfolio in the Philippines, chiefly for sites
that it has secured in the Luzon grid.
AC Energy President and
CEO Eric T. Francia told reporters “in the near term, we’re looking at
construction in the next 12-18 months somewhere between 100-200MW that we can
start just to get the ball rolling.”
He said the company’s
focus will be on smaller capacities for now – initially on expansion of solar
installations, then next will be in wind farm developments.
“That’s pure RE that
we’re looking at in the near term where we hope to break ground soon – that’s
in the Philippines. Over a 100MW is what we use to start construction,” Francia
stressed.
He added that their
investment track will be “mostly solar” for now; and “hopefully wind will
follow also in the next couple of years.”
The installation
paradigm, he expounded, shall be along different sites in Luzon grid at scale
that could range at 50 to 100 megawatts per farm.
“We’ll do it on a
portfolio basis… there are some grid constraints also that’s why we need to
spread out the renewable capacities,” he said, adding that the specific project
siting will come to view “when we’re able.”
Francia emphasized
their next RE developments will likewise be bankrolled by fraction of the
proceeds of the company’s green bond issuance early this year. For that tap
facility, the company raised US$410 million.
“Part of equity
financing will come from the bonds and we are also open to some project finance
or we can do equity financing also. We have the flexibility,” the Ayala firm
executive stressed.
He further indicated
“definitely, a lot of our RE projects will be funded through the green bonds,”
highlighting that even their offshore market developments will partly lean on
that.
The Philippines is not
just the core market that the Ayala group has been rolling out its investments
on – it has also immersed itself as well-entrenched player in the RE spaces of
Vietnam and Indonesia.
Vietnam is particularly
an “exciting market” for the Ayala company at this point given the flourishing
feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentive scheme being dangled by that country to the
investors; while FIT honeymoon in the Philippines had already been over.
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