ACEN Renewables International Pte. Ltd (ACRI), a subsidiary of Ayala-led ACEN Corporation, has sealed AU$75 million green term loan facility with HSBC, which it will funnel into its expansion for renewable energy (RE) projects in Australia.

According to the company, “the green term loan will deliver the much-needed capital for ACEN’s renewable energy projects,” primarily for Australia which currently is its core market outside of the Philippines.

As of press time, there are no details provided by the company yet on the loan’s payment term as well as on the interest rates it had been priced at.

ACEN Treasurer Cecile Cruzabra emphasized the Australian dollar-denominated loan will not only underpin the firm’s capacity beefing up in that offshore market, but it will also enable them to “manage our foreign currency risk in AUD.”

The biggest solar farm installations being pursued by ACEN at present are its developments in Australia – particularly its 720-megawatt New England solar farm venture which will be integrated with energy storage system.

“The loan agreement underlines ACEN’s strategic move to bolster its renewable energy initiatives in Australia, an emerging key market for the company,” the Ayala firm stressed.

By far, ACEN’s investment platform in Australia is targeting “to play a vital role in the company’s renewables expansion in the region.”

The company has more than 1,000 megawatts renewable energy (RE) capacity that are under construction and operation in that particular market in the Asia Pacific region – and the capacity addition in its project pipeline for Australia hovers at 8.0 gigawatts (8,000 megawatts).

ACEN’s renewable energy development game plan in that market will focus on diverse technologies – including wind and pumped hydro apart from amalgamated solar and energy storage that are already being advanced in its current projects.

The RE investment platform of the Ayala group sets a strategy that is trying to prove that clean energy technologies would be the forward pathway into feeding the aspired economic growths of countries, including the Philippines.

Owing to that, it is eyeing to showcase to the world how a business model ushered in by early retirement of fossil fuel-fired generating assets – such as its 246MW South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation (SLTEC) – can be carried out through the support of transition credits as well as energy transition mechanism (ETM) financing packages.