KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 22): Solarvest Holdings Bhd (KL:SLVEST) has teamed up with Canadian investment giant Brookfield to develop 1.5 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy projects in Malaysia.
Over the next three to five years, the two companies would be looking at both large-scale hybrid solar power plants and battery energy storage system projects, executive director and chief executive officer Davis Chong Chun Shiong said during a press conference on Monday.
“In fact, the early development effort, exploration of offtakers and land acquisition is already ongoing,” Chong said. “So, we are not starting from zero."
A joint investment framework agreement was inked between Solarvest and Brookfield CTF Asia Holdings Pte Ltd on Monday.
A special-purpose vehicle will be established per project, with an equity split of 51% to Solarvest and 49% to Brookfield. Solarvest will develop and deploy the projects, while Brookfield will find offtakers and assist in financing.
Chong said the partnership targets to undertake projects under the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme, or Cress, a programme that allows businesses to buy renewable energy directly from power producers using the national grid.
Project funding will be decided on a project-by-project basis, with borrowings, internal funding, sukuk issuance, and cash calls as available avenues, chief financial officer Liew Kong Fatt said at the same news conference.
The market rate for each megawatt of capacity is about RM3.5 million, Solarvest group vice-president of global sales, assets and marketing Jack Tan noted.
Apart from the access to capital, Solarvest chief investment officer Daniel Ruppert said the company joined hands with Brookfield to also leverage its access to global corporate offtakers.
Brookfield owns and operates one of the world's largest renewable energy and transition asset portfolios, with more than 270GW of operational and development capacity.
Shares of Solarvest were suspended pending the announcement. The counter was last traded at RM2.72 on Sept 19, valuing the company at RM2.23 billion.