Total Eren acquired Battambang Co., Ltd (“Battambang”) from Risen Energy, a listed Chinese company which has developed, built, financed and recently commissioned the project in March 2021.
Risen Energy will be performing the maintenance of the PV farm for the next 2 years. The Battambang solar farm produces about 115 GWh per year, enough to supply the needs of about 180,000 people in Cambodia while reducing carbon emissions by more than 50,000 tons of CO2 per year. It is one of the largest solar farms in operation in the country today and the largest in the Battambang region.
The produced electricity has been contracted through a 20–year Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”) signed in August 2019 with the national utility, Electricité du Cambodge. Battambang was financed through a USD 45 million loan, signed in September 2020, from DEG, the German Development Finance Institution affiliated to KfW, the German Development Bank.
This project is part of the larger scheme implemented by Cambodia under the “Basic Energy Plan” issued in 2019 which sets a target of 10% of the Kingdom’s electricity mix to be generated through renewable energy sources by 2030.
Fabienne Demol, Executive Vice President – Global Head of Business Development of Total Eren, stated: “We are delighted to secure our first renewable energy project in Cambodia. I want to thank our teams who made it possible as well as Risen Energy for our successful collaboration. Total Eren wants to take an active role in the country’s decarbonisation process and is committed to providing energy which is low–carbon and sustainable to the Cambodian people. Looking ahead, we look forward to developing a larger portfolio of renewable energy projects in the country.”
Champion Yuan, Board Director of Risen Energy and General Manager of Risen Hong–Kong, said: “We are excited to close the transaction of this 73.9 MW Solar Project in cooperation with Total Eren. It is a significant milestone since this is the first Solar Project that Risen Energy completed in Cambodia, and the first renewable energy project for Total Eren in the country as well. Risen Energy has rich experience in developing, engineering, constructing and operating Wind and Solar power projects around the globe, and we are looking forward to a continued cooperation with Total Eren to promote the development of renewable energy globally.”
Through this project, Total Eren enters the Cambodian renewable energy market where the company sees a strong potential, and pursues its expansion in Asia Pacific, a key growth region. Total Eren opened its regional office in 2015 in Singapore, from where it currently coordinates its activities across the region, and relies on teams based in Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines and Cambodia. In particular, Total Eren owns a 256 MWp solar farm commissioned in Australia (“Kiamal”), and a 60 MWp solar farm in operation in the Philippines (“Tarlac”).
Total Eren is also active in South Asia, especially in India through its Joint–Venture, Eden Renewable
India, which owns 657 MWp of solar capacity in operation or under construction in the country.
