Alternatives are essential

Valerie: Windows of opportunities open, and they also close. That means you need to be flexible in investing, but still having your long-term strategy.

TEXT: Energy transition partnerships in action: New Green Power 

Valerie: Gavin, great having you here. This year has been a very interesting year for power generation. There are a lot of hyperscalers, everybody's demanding more electricity, (and) especially green power. Taiwan has come a long way, (and) so has New Green Power (NGP). It would be great if you could take us on the journey that you have had with the company.

Gavin: New Green Power was founded back in 2012, and we are currently a leading renewable energy developer and contractor based in Taiwan. Our partnership started back in 2018. And BlackRock’s support has been a very important factor in the growth of our business. To date, we have close to 400MW of solar track record built¹. And beyond solar, we have also ventured into new renewable energy asset classes such as battery storage and EV charging infrastructure. 

TEXT: Ground mounted - Taichung Landfill (Capacity: 6.2MW) (Source: New Green Power, as of August 2024.)

TEXT:Floating type - Xinwen Detention Basin (Capacity: 35MW) (Source: New Green Power, as of August 2024.)

TEXT:Rooftop - Mitsui Outlet Park, Taichung (Capacity: 5MW) (Source: New Green Power, as of August 2024.)

Valerie: Digital infrastructure has been a focus area for many investors this year. You have announced a partnership with Google² . Very interesting, and I think for our audience, (it) would be great to understand a bit more about this partnership.

Gavin: The partnership with Google is indeed a landmark deal for us. They will be investing into NGP and we will in return, look to sell up to 300MW of renewable energy to them or their suppliers². So we are very, very excited about that. This is a first of its kind transaction where we combine capital investment and corporate power purchase agreement into a single transaction structure. On Google's side, they get quicker access to more renewable energy, to support them in reducing their carbon emissions across their operations and supply chain.

Valerie: What is your outlook? Where will this region move towards?

Gavin: The Taiwanese government has a target of 20GW of solar by 2025 and 60 to 80GW of solar by 2050³. So, from NGP’s perspective, we want to keep growing our renewable energy pipeline. We want to venture into new renewable energy asset classes like hydrogen, geothermal, waste to energy. So, what do you see about the future of energy infrastructure in Asia?

Valerie: Taiwan's targets are huge. But if you combine all the targets that the governments have announced across Asia, it's trillions of dollars of investment opportunity⁴. And then you will see there's different (opportunity) sets. You could invest in wind, solar, Commercial & Industrial (C&I) for example, green power for end consumers such as your model. Within the energy transition, you have to be a bit flexible because windows of opportunities open, and they also close. That means you need to be flexible in investing. But still having your long-term strategy. Given this opportunity set, investors have a strong role to play in the region. For example, your partnership between New Green Power and Google shows one of the innovative solutions to pivot towards the energy transition.

Sources:

¹New Green Power, as of August 2024.
²Google, as of July 2024. Reference to the company names mentioned in this communication should not be construed as investment advice or investment recommendation of that company. For illustrative purposes only.
³Infrastructure Investor, as of October 2020.
⁴World Economic Forum, as of May 2023.

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