Armstrong energeyes on south east asia by Ken Hickson

April 2014

The Renewable Energy Pipeline

It might be news to you that there's a pipeline of about 15 deals at various stages of evaluation and negotiation for the Armstrong South East Asia Clean Energy Fund, with a corresponding funding requirement of over US$1 billion. More quality deals are expected to be originated through our new strategic partnership with Mandiri Investment Management (see first article below). These are examples of the sort of information you might miss if we don't communicate directly and regularly with you, our project partners, investors and, in fact, all stakeholders and those interested in the funding and development of renewable energy capacity in the region. Just like we set out two and a half years ago to start this unique fund - which had its final close at $164 million last November - we are now embarking on a communications process, not just to keep you up to date on what we're doing, but to make sure you don't miss out on items of interest from the world of renewable energy. We welcome your comments, input, ideas and news. You can also find us on Facebook and LinkedIn. All ways to enable you to share in what we are doing and what we care about. We'll keep our eyes out for what's going on and we'll continue to energise South East Asia in a clean, responsible fashion. Here's to a clean energy, low carbon future! Andrew Affleck

South East Asia Renewable News

Co-investment in Indonesia's emerging hydro power sector Mandiri Investment Management has entered into a co-investment arrangement with Armstrong Asset Management to work together to invest in renewable energy projects in Indonesia. Both companies will start their collaboration by focusing on the emerging hydro sector in Indonesia, in particular mini hydroelectric power plants. Read More

Presidential seal for solar plant project

The 50 MW solar power plant being initiated by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) has secured a tariff rate of somewhere between 40sen to 46sen per kWh, lower than existing tariff for electricity generated by solar plants, according to a online report in The Star. At the same time it was announced that the relevant parties were working to put this agreement together in time for it to be announced during the visit by United States President Barack Obama to Malaysia this month (April). Read More

Philippines gains new lending portfolio

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group and Europe's Thomas Lloyd Group Ltd inked a mandate-letter for the provision of US$330million lending portfolio for renewable energy (RE) projects in the Philippines, the Manilla Bulletin reported 5 March. It noted that the facility "will augment the $87 million of development and construction capital already deployed or committed by the Thomas Lloyd Group of Companies and the Thomas Lloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund." Read More

Putting a price on renewable capacity building

South East Asia has only around one gigawatt of clean energy operating assets (excluding large hydro) and various estimates have the ASEAN group of countries with a target of roughly 55 gigawatts of renewable energy production by 2030. That translates into an investment of more than $100 billion. That from Andrew Affleck in a wide ranging interview with Yvonne Chan in the February issue of Asian Investor. Read more

Global Renewable Energy News

IPPC Report to drive capital investment in Clean Tech The compelling conclusions from the latest United Nations report on climate change are likely to spur a wave of corporate investment, capital partnerships and bonds in the infrastructure, energy, water and agriculture sectors, James Cameron (pictured) , non-executive Chairman of Climate Change Capital, told Clean Energy Pipeline. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (31 March ) warned of an increase in violent conflicts, inequality, food shortages, droughts, flooding, heat waves and infrastructure damage if global temperatures continue to rise at current rates. Read More

Asia new global leader in new PV installations With at least 37 GW of newly-added capacity globally, 2013 was another record-year for photovoltaic (PV) installations, with Asia taking the lead over Europe as the number one region for new PV installations. This, according to preliminary figures gathered by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). Read More

PV reaches critical mass towards mainstream power Recent indicators show PV reaching a critical mass that might enable it to be considered a mainstream power generation source in many parts of the world.Solar may have accounted for just 0.6% of global electricity generation in 2012, but there are signs that PV could soon be entering into the mainstream. Read More

Wind blows back into Germany's "Energiewende" Germany's regional states succeeded in watering down the Federal Government's plans for cuts in future wind energy projects in conjunction with a landmark renewable energy law reform, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and state leaders said early April. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who took part in the fourhour meeting said: "We've reached a high degree of unity," in getting right the country's "Energiewende", or transition to renewable energy, which will be one of the most important challenges of her right-left grand coalition government. Read More

Light of day for Procurement (SPP)

UN's

Sustainable

Public

Indian Railways replaced more than one million incandescent light bulbs with energy-efficient fluorescent lamps in 400,000 employees' homes, saving more than 100,000 megawatts of energy and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 90,000 tonnes each year. An example of what can be achieved through a new United Nations Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) global programme which was launched in New York 1 April which aims to harness the trillions of dollars that governments spend each year on procurement of everything - from computers to food to travel - to fund a more resource-efficient, low-carbon world. Read More

Africa: Dedicated Fund for Small to Medium Renewable Projects

The African Renewable Energy Fund (AREF), a dedicated renewable energy fund focused on Sub-Saharan Africa closed on 12 March with US$100 million of committed capital to support small- to medium-scale independent power producers (IPPs). Headquartered in Nairobi, the fund is targeting a final close of US $200 million within the next 12 months to be invested in grid-connected development stage renewable energy projects including small hydro, wind, geothermal, solar, biomass and waste gas. Read More

Creating an energy future sustainable for all Action one in the outcome document of the Asian Productivity Organisation international conference in Taipei mid-March called for targets to be set for cities and countries in the Asia Pacific to meet at least 20% of energy demand from renewable sources by 2020 and to achieve up to 20% improvement in energy efficiency across the board by 2020. Read More

Featuring Clean Energy Applied Research: SERIS What started as a research project by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) at National University of Singapore (NUS) has culminated into a spin-off that helps light up rural communities. With a grant from the SingaporeMIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), the team initiated the concept of affordable solar-powered street lamps that can be used in areas not connected to an electricity grid. The development of the idea led to the formation of start-up Fosera Lighting Pte Ltd to commercialise the product. Read More