The largest deal in the region was Adani Green Energy’s $3.5 billion purchase of India’s SB Energy Holdings. The deal involved 1.4GW of operational solar capacity and 2.7GW of capacity under development. Another significant acquisition was EDP Renewables’ $880 million purchase of Singapore-based solar developer Sunseap, which offers a build, own, and operate strategy for rooftop, ground-mounted utility-scale, and floating solar PV projects. The company has a solar development pipeline of 4.8 GW. The solar sector dominates the renewables mergers and acquisitions (M&A) landscape in Asia, occupying a 66% share of the total deal volume and a 78% share of the aggregate deal value in the region, in 2021.
Transactions for sub-50MW portfolios of assets surged by about 50% year-on-year in 2021, according to Enerdatics data. This was driven by the need for renewable energy sources to satisfy residential electricity demand. Further, declining installation costs and land availability constraints are also stimulating the growth of small-scale community solar and rooftop PV projects. Another significant development is the formation of strategic relationships in Southeast Asian countries such as Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, with the goal of developing large-scale offshore wind projects. Oil majors like Equinor and TotalEnergies, private equity firms like BlackRock, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, and Macquarie, as well as experienced power utilities like SSE, Iberdrola, and JERA, have formed JVs to establish a foothold in the region.