NEFIN Group Enters Singapore with A Goal to Invest SGD$100million In Upcoming 5 Years

Share

NEFIN Group (“NEFIN”), Asia's leading green independent power producer (IPP), officially launched its brand-new APAC Headquarters in the heart of Singapore's downtown precinct at MacDonald House in Dhoby Ghaut. Highly driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of Singapore, 8 August 2022 marked an important milestone for NEFIN since its inauguration in 2014.

Adding to the glamour of the day, NEFIN signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Singapore's top energy retailer, Tuas Power Supply (“TPS”), which is the first of many binding partnerships which NEFIN will enter with strategic partners in the remainder of 2022.

Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr. Lawrence Wong, has announced the plan to achieve net zero emissions by mid-century during the Budget 2022. To enable the transition to a low-carbon future, Singapore will raise the carbon tax levels progressively from 2024. This will support Singapore's journey to net zero emissions and secure a greener and more sustainable living environment for future generations, while being economically competitive in a low-carbon future. The Government has committed to continue financially supporting businesses' decarbonization efforts through existing schemes such as the Resource Efficiency Grant for Energy (REG(E)) and the Energy Efficiency Fund (E2F), for companies undertaking energy efficiency and emissions reduction projects.

In line with this government push, NEFIN aims to invest a minimum of SGD$100 million in the Singapore market within the upcoming 5 years. This MOU is set to become a major driver for the development of carbon neutrality solutions in Singapore and reflects NEFIN's goal to bring state-of-the-art technical and financing solutions into Singapore.

“Our short-term goal is to establish meaningful partnerships with key players in the Singapore market who are strong advocates for carbon neutrality. The partnership with TPS brings our vision to the next level as TPS shares our missions and beliefs, which is the essential backbone towards building a unique synergy between the two teams of experts,” said Mr. Glenn Lim, CEO of NEFIN. “This is in line with our aim for massive developments within the carbon neutrality solutions market in Singapore, a region we believe to be a significant player in terms of renewable energy solutions in APAC.”

“Tuas Power is a leading power generation company in Singapore and our retail arm, Tuas Power Supply, owns the largest segment of the electricity contract market,” said Michael Wong, COO of Tuas Power. “We believe in helping our customers with their journey of sustainable development, and our collaboration with NEFIN will enable us to offer renewable energy solutions to our customers.”

“We believe in the long-term vision and strategy that NEFIN has put forward for the benefit of the industry and also for the community at large. We recently announced our ACEN 2030 vision, which is our aim to reach 20GW of renewables by 2030. Our strong partnership with NEFIN will not only create opportunities to support others on their ‎journey towards reducing carbon emissions but will also help each other ‎achieve our own decarbonization ambitions,” said Patrice Clausse, Chief Operating Officer, International Group of ACEN, NEFIN's major shareholder. In 2021, ACEN together with the Ayala group, announced its commitment to achieve Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This will involve early retirement of its remaining coal plant by 2040 and transition the company's generation portfolio to 100% renewable energy by 2025.

The MOU will last for 2 years, where the corporate framework will be set for the installation and deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for customers in Singapore. NEFIN will be primarily responsible for investing, developing, and operating the PV systems in connection with the project, while Tuas Power Supply will be responsible for securing potential customers for solar energy.

Mr Glenn Lim grew up in Singapore and was inspired by the entrepreneurial side of founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He took a bold step to venture out of Singapore, pushes for innovation in his service offerings to clients and develops systems that can bring longevity to the business of NEFIN and its partners. In a similar way to how Singapore began as a start-up nation to become a significant player on the world's stage, NEFIN has grown from a start-up company into a regional player in the renewable energy industry. Glenn and his team realized the importance of returning to where the dream first started, and believe that setting up the APAC Headquarters in Singapore is significant milestone in NEFIN's growth.

Many of NEFIN's partners including Tuas Power, Arup, Cyclect, Solarvest, Huawei, Sungrow, JA Solar, LONGi, Total IFM, Trina Solar, Quahe Woo & Palmer, Squire Patton Boggs, HSBC, SMBC, Standard Chartered, SP Group, Temasek Holdings, SUSI Partners and more, attended the Singapore regional HQ office opening event on 8 August 2022. It was a great time of celebration as some of them had journeyed with NEFIN from the start to where it is now.