As we continue to drive the clean energy transition, it is important to discuss how to finance large-scale renewable energy projects. Presenters in this session covered best practices in financing of solar parks, floating solar projects, solar rooftop and residential solar business models, and battery storage and virtual power plants. The session also included discussions of financing of offshore wind projects.
Moderator: Jackie B. Surtani, Director Infrastructure Finance East Asia, Southeast Asia & the Pacific, ADB
Presenters:
Powering Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Projects in Africa, Asia and Middle East
Anand Rohatgi, Business Partner, Synergy Consulting
The presentation highlighted the key trends and nuances in the financing of renewable energy projects across the Africa, Asia and Middle East region. It provided details on various structures (park/non-park based), procurement strategy and other enablers to promote development of renewable energy in these regions and also included alternative emerging avenues of funding available for utility scale renewable energy projects.
Extending Innovative Finance to MSMEs for Large-Scale Solar Rooftop Distributed Generation
Hemant Nandanpawar, Senior Director, Ernst & Young LLP
Somesh Kumar, Leader - Power and Utilities, Ernst & Young LLP
While it is easy for large developers to access finance, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) face huge challenges due to their balance sheet and creditworthiness issues. This presentation provided an overview of innovative products that have been developed to mobilize finance for a large-scale solar rooftop deployment project in India. It included discussion about certain successful solutions, challenges faced as well as the products that can be useful for the entire Asia region.
Barriers and Enablers to Renewable Energy Financing and Investment for Grid-connected Wind and Solar
Bansari Saha, Senior Director, ICF
Wind and solar are undergoing a global revolution with rapidly increasing installations driven by a range of technical, economic, regulatory, and institutional drivers. Recent work under the USAID, US-APEC Technical Assistance to Advance Regional Integration (US-ATAARI) project, found that countries throughout Asia are setting ambitious clean energy targets but for many countries progress towards those targets is not keeping up. This presentation discussed the work which found four key drivers for attracting clean energy investment: technical (e.g., grid integration), economic (e.g., feed-in-tariffs), regulatory (e.g., support for IPPs), and institutional (e.g., local financing). It also discussed findings of how for some countries these drivers can enable clean energy investments whereas in other countries these drivers can be barriers to clean energy investments. In addition, it covered examples of successful investments resulting from enabling policies for several countries examined in the work: Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Viet Nam, Indonesia, and Mongolia.
Liability Risks for Clean Energy Projects
Briony Eales, Knowledge Management Specialist, Asian Development Bank
Liability risk is a key climate risk affecting financial stability. Litigation trends reveal that liability risk arises in three broad ways: (i) rights-based action, (ii) compensation claims, and (iii) increased regulatory action. This presentation provided an overview of recent litigation trends and the nature of liability risk helps energy projects establish practices that may minimize liability risk exposure and boost attractiveness to investors.
Developing a Direct Power Purchase Agreement (DPPA) Mechanism in Vietnam
Gary Zieff, Principal Energy Advisor, USAID Vietnam Low Energy Emissions Program (V-LEEP)
Corporate entities with facilities in Asia are increasingly interested in procuring renewable power to meet sustainability targets, hedge against power price volatility, and add resiliency to their power supply. This presentation described a stepwise approach to Direct Power Purchase Agreements (DPPAs) policy development proven effective in Vietnam: (i) forming consumer coalitions; (ii) building awareness of the benefits of DPPAs; (iii) determining legal and regulatory requirements for DPPAs; (iv) aligning DPPAs with power market and renewable energy policies; (v) building the technical and operational capacity needed to facilitate DPPAs; and (vi) building credibility through pilot projects.