Expertise
ThomasLloyd in Asia-Pacific
A renewable energy pioneer in Asia-Pacific
We co-developed, financed and owned the first utility-scale renewable energy project in the Philippines, with the Asian Development Bank and the Bank of the Philippine Islands among the lenders.¹ ² We built the fuel supply behind our biomass plants ourselves. In India we took a solar platform from an initial stake to sole ownership.
Philippines: Pioneering a new market
From fuel to power
Our expansion into Asia-Pacific began in 2011. In the Philippines we developed, financed, built and operated San Carlos Bioenergy, a bioethanol plant with an annual production capacity of 42 million litres, one of fourteen greenfield fuel projects our team has been responsible for in the country.³
A plant that had no precedent
In 2013 we began construction of SaCaSol on Negros Island. A year later it was commissioned in front of 600 international guests as the first utility-scale renewable energy plant in the Philippines, 22 MW in its first phase, and inaugurated by President Benigno S. Aquino III. It supplied up to 50,000 people with electricity.
A market that had no financing
No Philippine bank had financed a solar project before. SaCaSol secured the first bank facility for a solar project in the country. In 2016 we signed loan agreements with the IFC and other sovereign investors for a facility of up to USD 161 million for our biomass platform.²
Selected transactions
The first utility-scale renewable energy plant in the Philippines
Co-development, financing, construction and operation of a 45 MW solar power plant at San Carlos City, realised in four phases and successfully exited.
- First bank finance for a solar project in the country
- Our first utility-scale plant on Negros Island
- Project volume USD 95 million
The largest solar M&A transaction in South East Asia
Co-development, financing, construction and operation of two solar power plants with a combined 80 MW at La Carlota City and Manapla, successfully exited.
- 32 MW and 48 MW, both on Negros Island
- Sold to the same investor as SaCaSol
- Project volume USD 162 million
The first large-scale power plant to run on agricultural residues
Origination, co-development, financing, construction and operation of three biomass power plants with a combined 70 MW on Negros Island, which we own today.
- Largest international sponsor finance facility to the biomass sector in the Philippines, with the IFC, the Clean Technology Fund and the Government of Canada
- Baseload renewable electricity, demand for which comes from industrial customers such as data centres
- Project volume USD 303 million
From lead investor to owner
Acquisition of a stake in SolarArise, a leading Indian solar platform, as its largest equity sponsor, followed by the buyout of the other shareholders.
- 434 MW across five states, co-invested with the European Investment Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank
- 275 MW of that in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
- Project volume USD 249 million
Honours and Recognitions
IFC Sustainable Energy Finance Award
The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, awarded its 2014 Sustainable Energy Finance Award to San Carlos Solar Energy, which brought the first utility-scale solar facility in the Philippines into operation.
Solar Power Project of the Year
Charlton Media Group named SaCaSol I Solar Power Plant Solar Power Project of the Year at the Asian Power Awards 2014. San Carlos Solar Energy also took bronze in the category Independent Power Producer of the Year.
Best Practices Award
Frost & Sullivan presented San Carlos Solar Energy with the 2014 Best Practices Award in the category Philippines Solar Photovoltaic System Integrator of the Year.
Green Company of the Year
Asia CEO Forum honoured San Carlos Solar Energy as Green Company of the Year 2014.
At a Glance
Climate Infrastructure
Asia-Pacific is where most of our track record was built: 83 of the 115 projects in our Climate Infrastructure track record are in the region.¹ Our work there spans seven technologies, from solar, wind and hydropower to bioenergy, hybrid plants, transmission and thermal generation.
83
Developed, built or operated across the region by our Climate Infrastructure team.
22 GW
Across those 83 projects.
14
From the Philippines and India to Japan, Singapore and Tonga.
Sustainable Fuels
One of the largest agricultural fleets in the Philippines
A fuel supply we built ourselves
In 2016 we planted a 93-hectare pilot energy crop plantation thirteen kilometres from the San Carlos plant, and in 2018 we established the plantation and sustainable fuels business that grew out of it. Short rotation coppice on a three-year cycle has yielded 30 to 45 tonnes per hectare a year, significantly above published industry figures.
Securing fuel supply year-round
Our agricultural residues business comprises around 600 machines and cooperates with more than 1,700 farmers across 70,000 hectares on Negros Island. Twelve fuel facilities were built to hold the inventory that carries the three plants through the cane harvest off-season. Annual fuel production capacity exceeds 700,000 tonnes.
Five times what we need
Negros produces around 3.3 million tonnes of cane trash a year, nearly five times what the three plants require. It was historically burned in the fields. We collect it with our own fleet under agreements with the planters, return the boiler ash as fertiliser, and help them avoid the legal risk of in-field burning under the Clean Air Act.
Beyond Asia-Pacific
Twenty years in North America
ThomasLloyd entered North America and the cleantech sector together in 2005. Going forward, our sustainable energy business will focus on two regions, North America and Asia-Pacific, and in North America that now means mobile power and water for AI data centres.
20+ years
Founded in 2005 as an SEC-regulated boutique in the United States.3.9 GW
Power plants in gas, bioenergy and solar in the United States and Canada.¹
6
Mobility, energy efficiency, power, waste, mobile generation and water treatment.Get in touch
Our plants, our fuel supply and our partnerships in the region were built over fifteen years. If you are planning a project in Asia-Pacific, we are glad to talk.
Footnotes
- Includes all projects where either the Group or current and former members of its Climate Infrastructure Team have developed and/or constructed and/or operated such project in a leading capacity as owner or energy/asset manager on behalf of the owner.
- Includes all corporate and project financing transactions for projects, assets and businesses which either the Group or current and former members of its Climate Finance Team have originated and acted as lead-arranger and/or sole placement agent and/or exclusive financial advisor.
- Includes all projects where either the Group or current and former members of its Sustainable Fuels Team have developed and/or constructed and/or operated such project in a leading capacity as owner or advisor to the owner.