Philippine Billionaire Family’s AC Energy, BIM Group Start $155 Million Wind Farm In Vietnam

Philippine Billionaire Family’s AC Energy, BIM Group Start $155 Million Wind Farm In Vietnam

AC Energy—controlled by billionaire Jaime Zobel de Ayala and his family—and its partner Hanoi-based BIM Group has started the commercial operations of their wind farm project in Vietnam ahead of schedule as Ayala Corp., the Philippines' oldest conglomerate, accelerates investments in renewable energy. Built at a cost of $155 million, the 88-megawatt wind farm in Ninh Thuan province—about 1, 400 kilometers southeast of the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi—is the second project completed by the duo in the country, AC Energy said in a statement to the Philippine bourse. The partners also developed the 405-megawatt Ninh Thuan solar farm, which came online in 2019, before the pandemic wreaked havoc on the global economy. "We are very excited to bring this new project into commercial operations ahead of the feed-in-tariff deadline, notwithstanding the many challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic," Patrice Clausse, chief operating officer of AC Energy International, said in a statement "We will continue to accelerate our investments in renewables in the country." The solar and wind farms at Ninh Thuan are expected to generate a combined 900 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy annually, according to the statement. AC Energy is also developing other projects in Vietnam that will