AC Energy, a subsidiary of Ayala, in partnership with AMI Renewables Energy, has signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract and financing documents for the development of 80MW solar plants in the country.
Image: Officials of AMI Renewables Energy and RCBC at the loan agreement signing ceremony. Photo: Courtesy of AC Energy, Inc.
AC Energy stated that these solar plants are expected to be constructed in the provinces of Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak and expected to be commissioned by next June for the solar feed-in tariff deadline.
These three solar projects are estimated to cost nearly $83m and will be financed with debt and equity. AC Energy stated that it will have at least 50% of economic share.
AC Energy president and CEO Eric Francia said: “We are excited to expand our development initiatives in Vietnam and work with our local partner AMI Renewables.
“We appreciate the strong commitment of Vietnam government to promote renewables, and the strong support from our banking partners that are providing project finance.”
Indovina Bank of Vietnam and RCBC of the Philippines have agreed to provide non-recourse financing for the Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa projects respectively.
Last year, AC Energy formed a platform company with AMI Renewables to develop renewable energy plants in Vietnam, including the 352MW Quang Binh wind project.
Last month, AC Energy agreed to sell stake in its thermal portfolio to AboitizPower. The partial sell-down includes GNPower Mariveles and GNPower Dinginin assets and represents nearly 35% of AC Energy’s attributable capacity in thermal. The company will retain 51% of voting shares in both the assets.
With this deal, the company expects to expand to its domestic and offshore renewable energy businesses with a balanced portfolio in renewable and thermal energy.
The company aims to develop 5 GW of attributable capacity and generate at least fifty percent of energy from renewables by 2025.
Francia earlier said: “While we will continue to develop projects in the Philippines, a lot of that incremental growth in renewables will have to come through international expansion.
“We expect to build on this momentum and add more projects in the future.”