ACEN to build $3-B wind park in Australia

Ayala-led ACEN Corp. is making a firmer presence in Australia’s renewable energy space, with a $3-billion wind park set to rise in Tasmania.

The company’s subsidiary, ACEN Australia, said that its 900-megawatt (MW) Robbins Island Wind project has finally obtained regulatory approval. The Federal Government gave the green light following a rigorous environmental review.

ACEN has not stated when construction work will begin. But the group noted that the facility may start generating electricity by 2030.

Once fully operational, the wind park could energize up to 500,000 homes. It could provide more than $30 million to the economy of Tasmania.

David Pollington, managing director of ACEN Australia, said the decision on the major project comes at a critical time when the country “faces a stalling energy transition and looming power shortages as coal exits the system.”

“It means the state could still play a meaningful role in the energy transition and capture the benefits that come with private investments like ours—at $3 billion, one of the largest in the state’s history—if there is a timely decision on the transmission line,” Pollington said in a statement over the weekend.

With a roster of big renewable projects, Killian Wentrup, head of development at ACEN Australia, said the group is “on track to become a significant player in Australia’s energy market.”

“By 2030, with projects like Valley of the Winds, Birriwa solar and battery hybrid and our Phoenix pumped hydro development, we will have built several gigawatts of solar, wind and firming capacity,” he told visiting Filipino reporters at a recent briefing in Sydney.