ACEN sets P80-B capital outlays, upbeat on 2026
ACEN Corp. aims to assert its dominance in the renewable energy market, with more than P80 billion in capital spending seen helping achieve its 5-gigawatt (GW) operational capacity by year-end.
Its president and CEO, Eric Francia, said on Tuesday that this year’s capital expenditure is higher than last year’s P55 billion.
About 75 percent of the capital outlays for 2026 would boost the Philippine operations of the Ayala Group’s listed energy arm, with several solar and wind plants in the pipeline.
The official likewise said ACEN would keep investing in battery energy storage systems (BESS) to complement the expansion of its solar portfolio.
BESS is a technology that allows power producers to store excess electricity and release it when the demand spikes.
ACEN’s facilities in foreign markets would also have power storage systems, the executive noted.
Francia said ACEN’s financial footing this year would be “better,” with several factors fueling its recovery.
For one, he said typhoon-ravaged wind farms have been “substantially restored.”
“The plants have been stable in terms of operations. So that would definitely add to the volume output because around 200 megawatts worth of wind farms were affected by the typhoon in 2024,” he told reporters.
Additional capacity from big projects, such as the Monsoon Wind in Laos and the Stubbo Solar project in Australia, would also provide a boost, he said.
More projects would also come online this year here and abroad, he said.
ACEN currently has 4.3 GW of capacity, moving closer to its 7-GW target.
“We’ll be more than 5 gigawatts operational expected by end of this year. And then we should be close to 7 gigawatts operational by next year,” Francia said.
He also cited the group’s contract with Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) as one of the key growth drivers.
“The Meralco midmerit contract will step up because most of our capacity that we’re serving Meralco is stepping up in volume in February of 2026. So that should also help increase our contracted capacity and help with the performance,” Francia said.
