In Pursuit of Power : The Case of Ayala Energy Corporation’s Renewable Energy Investments in Southeast Asia

Joefe B. Santarita

Abstract
The Philippine government attempts to embrace energy transition initiatives to generate energy from renewable sources in recent decades. Due to several domestic, external, and financial challenges, however, the said initiatives are not met diligently and on time. Thus, the said plan is now heavily dependent on the contribution of the private sector in harnessing power from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar among others. One of the said companies is ACEN Corporation (ACEN), formerly AC Energy Corporation, which is considered one of the largest renewable energy (RE) enterprises in the archipelago and continues to aspire as the largest listed renewable energy platform in the region (ACEN, 2022a). This paper contends that the energy transition of a Southeast Asian country to RE is primarily driven by private sectors through various modes of cooperation. The role of private enterprises in energy transition initiatives is best exemplified by ACEN. The pursuit of power is noticeable in three transformative shifts. The first shift is the company’s RE investments domestically in several places in the archipelago. The second shift is the outbound investments in wind and solar farms in various countries in the region either through partnerships, joint ventures, or mergers and acquisitions. The third shift is an offshoot of the second shift which is the crossborder electricity sales in the neighboring states such as Singapore and Vietnam. Moreover, this paper also looks at the mechanisms, conditions, and incentives that were offered to ACEN as enticing packages to invest in.

Keywords
partnership, cooperation, renewable energy, transition