'Priority market': Philippines conglomerate Ayala targets US wind power entry
ACEN subsidiary links with UPC and Pivot Power Management to buy and repower American projects
The renewable energy unit of Ayala Group – one of Southeast Asia’s largest conglomerates – plans to buy and repower US wind farms as it declared America a new “priority market” outside its Philippines homeland.
Ayala’s ACEN subsidiary formed a partnership with fellow major regional renewables developer UPC – which it already works with in Asia – and Chicago-based Pivot Power Management (PPM) to “acquire operating wind projects in the US and explore strategies for extending their useful life through preventative maintenance and repowering”.
ACEN wants to develop 5GW of renewables by 2025, up from about 3.3GW now, as “the largest listed renewables platform in Southeast Asia”. The company has already built or is constructing 1GW of renewables in the Philippines, while further afield it is advancing large-scale solar projects in Australia and India.
Patrice Clausse, chief operating officer of ACEN International said: “Our aspiration is for the US to become a priority market for ACEN outside of Philippines over time. This partnership will provide an exciting entry to the fast-growing US market.”
PPM is led by Tim Rosenzweig, previously a co-founder of US development pioneer FirstWind and ex CEO of Goldwind USA.
Rosenzweig said the new partnership will “seek to upgrade and replace key components on target projects with the goal of extending project life and optimising power generation.
“This transaction will help us grow our development and operating platform in the US.”
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