Ayala-led ACEN has dropped oil exploration as one of its businesses amid its drive to build an all-renewable energy portfolio by 2025.
The move was approved by the company’s shareholders during its special stockholders’ meeting on Tuesday morning.
Exploration, together with mining, were specifically scrapped as the firm’s primary and secondary purposes for business. At the same time, shareholders approved the addition of ACEN providing retail electricity supply as part of the firm’s business.
Currently, ACEN subsidiary ACE Enexor handles Ayala’s exploration efforts, particularly with Service Contract 55 in the West Philippine Sea. ACEN is also an accredited retail electricity supplier under the government’s Green Energy Option Program.
ACEN’s shareholders likewise approved the buyout of the firm’s joint ventures with UPC Renewables in Australia and in the Philippines, as well as the increase of its stake in Ilocos Norte wind farm ventures.
The company has also been formally renamed ACEN Corporation from the former AC Energy Corporation. ACEN President and CEO Eric Francia said during the maiden episode of Power Podcast in November that the rebranding into ACEN signifies the company becoming an Ayala core business.
Meanwhile, ACEN disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that its board has approved the investment and construction of a 43.5-megawatt direct current solar power plant through its joint venture with Citicore Solar Energy Corporation at the site of its current project in Arayat and Mexico, Pampanga.
ACEN and Citicore announced the joint venture back in February.