Citicore Renewable Energy Corp, one of the largest solar producers in the Philippines, has announced plans to go public in 2023. It hopes the equity offering will help fund a $4 billion investment in solar projects over the next five years.

Olive Tan, president and chief executive of Citibank, said the company will file for an IPO in the second quarter of 2023. He added that the listing would be completed within the year and that he believed the offering would be large enough to attract foreign investors to invest internationally.

Funding from the IPO will allow Citicore to invest $800 million in 2023 to increase its current generation capacity from 241 megawatts to 1 gigawatt, and invest a total of $4 billion over five years to reach an installed capacity of 5 gigawatts, Tan said. .

The company has several operational solar projects in the Philippines, including the Clark Solar Farm in Pampanga, and farms under its portfolio of leasehold and freehold land. For a country like ours, with limited oil and coal but abundant solar, wind and water, we must direct our capital investment into renewable energy.

The country aims to increase the share of renewable energy in its electricity mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040. Renewables account for 20% of total electricity output by 2020, with coal accounting for nearly 60%.

According to a 2019 report released by the Institute for Economics and Peace, the Philippines is the country most affected by climate change. This is largely due to its lower elevation and its economic dependence on fragile marine life.Editor/XingWentao