Equis invest $4BN in RE in next 2 years

Singapore-headquartered renewable energy and waste infrastructure developer Equis Development plans to invest over $4 billion in renewable energy projects across the Asia Pacific over the next two years, a top executive said.

In addition to renewable energy, Equis will also invest around $2 billion in recycling infrastructure, said its managing director David Russell. In order to fulfil these needs, the company may raise bank financing on a project-by-project basis. The company’s target markets include developed Asia Pacific markets such as Australia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Equis plans to develop 225MW biomass projects in Japan worth $1.4 billion as well as complex hybrid micro-grids to support remote mining operations and communities in Australia.

The company on Monday announced the completion of its acquisition of South Korea’s Jara 1 Solar Project valued at $50 million. Equis will fund the acquisition through a combination of internal accruals (20 per cent of the capital) and bank financing (the remaining 80 per cent), Russell said.

Located in Sinan Municipality, South Jeolla Province, Jara comprises a 22MW solar generation project and 70MWh of battery storage system. The project’s construction work is expected to start next month. Equis has already started working towards expanding Jara’s solar capacity to 80MW and its battery storage system to 260MWh, along with a new 400MW substation. The project’s value is pegged at around $250 million. “This commitment follows our previous, successful investment into a 207MWh battery storage system in August 2019, Korea’s largest,” said Sung Woo Yang, Equis’s South Korea-based managing director.

South Korea, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, aims to generate 35 per cent of its electricity from renewables by 2040. Meanwhile, Equis, in partnership with the Sinan Municipality, is also setting up a fund that will enable the local community to invest in projects.

The acquisition of Jara is the 19th project secured and financed by Equis following its restructuring. Equis Energy was sold to US-headquartered Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) in January 2018. Following the acquisition, Equis has restructured its entire asset and capital management model and has brought its partners and staff under a single corporate entity, Equis Development.