Australia tags ACEN’s $3.6-B project as high priority
ACEN Corp.’s $3.6-billion pumped hydro project has been tagged as a critical infrastructure in Australia, as the market moves to embrace more renewable projects.
The Ayala firm’s subsidiary ACEN Australia said on Friday that its 800-megawatt (MW) Phoenix Pumped Hydro Project received the status of Critical State Significant Infrastructure (CSSI) from the New South Wales (NSW) government.
Projects declared CSSI are those major infrastructure assets considered crucial to economic growth.
The designation came almost a year after the project secured a long-term energy service agreement under the NSW Energy Roadmap.
Developers awarded with this status could also expect assistance “in delivering the infrastructure in critical timeframes,” a document from the NSW government read.
The Phoenix project is a planned large-scale energy storage facility designed to draw and store energy from the grid when demand and wholesale prices are weak and release electricity when demand increases or supply is constrained. It has up to 15 hours of storage capacity.
“Phoenix offers the kind of bankable, critical infrastructure that gives shape to an evolving energy system, backing in new renewable generation, flattening wholesale energy market price volatility and unlocking opportunity right across the grid,” said David Pollington, managing director of ACEN Australia.
“We welcome the NSW government’s decision to declare Phoenix a CSSI project as core enabling infrastructure underpinning the State’s energy transition,” Pollington added.
The group expects the Phoenix project, which could energize 600,000 homes, to be operational by 2031.
Aside from this proposed facility, ACEN Australia has several solar, wind and battery energy storage facilities in development. Its operational assets in Australia include Stage 1 of the 720-MW New England Solar Park and the 400-MW Stubbo Solar Farm.
ACEN is also present in the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Lao PDR and Indonesia.
