AC Energy Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ayala Corp. in partnership with AMI Renewables Energy Joint Stock Co., has signed the engineering, procurement and construction and financing documents for the development of solar plants in Vietnam.
The joint venture over the weekend announced plans to build solar farms totaling 80 megawatts in the provinces of Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak.
The solar farms are expected to be commissioned in time for the June 2019 solar feed-in tariff deadline.
“We are excited to expand our development initiatives in Vietnam and work with our local partner AMI Renewables,” said AC Energy President and chief executive officer Eric Francia.
AC Energy will participate with at least a 50-percent economic share in the projects.
“We appreciate the strong commitment of Vietnam government to promote renewables, and the strong support from our banking partners that are providing project finance,” Francia said.
The projects are estimated to cost $83 million to be financed through debt and equity.
Indovina Bank of Vietnam and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. of the Philippines will provide non-recourse financing for the Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa projects, respectively.
AC Energy formed a platform company with AMI Renewables last year to build renewable energy plants in Vietnam, including the 352-MW Quang Binh wind project.
AC Energy is the energy platform of Ayala, one of the largest business groups in the Philippines.
AC Energy has over $1 billion of invested and committed equity in renewable and thermal energy in the Philippines and around the region.
The company aims to develop 5,000 megawatts of attributable capacity and generate at least 50 percent of energy from renewables by 2025.
AC Energy previously announced it was scaling up its international renewable energy platform with a strong project pipeline that includes investments in Vietnam (1,200 MW of solar and wind capacity), Indonesia (400 MW of wind and geothermal capacity) and Australia (1,700 MW of solar and wind capacity).
AC Energy also plans to develop 600 MW of solar capacity and 200 MW of wind capacity in the Philippines over the next five years.