KUALA LUMPUR: Ditrolic Energy Holdings Sdn has partnered with global fund manager BlackRock's Climate Finance Partnership (CFP) to back its expansion to build commercial and industrial and utility-scale solar assets throughout emerging markets in Asia Pacific.
Founded in 2009, Ditrolic Energy is one of the largest renewable energy developers in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.
It runs a fully-integrated value chain from project development, financing, engineering and construction through to operations and maintenance and asset management.
Ditrolic Energy is operating and developing more than 450 megawatt (MW) of solar assets in Malaysia, other Southeast Asia countries, Bangladesh and China.
CFP, meanwhile, is a unique partnership among BlackRock and the governments of France (AfD), Germany (KFW) and Japan (JBIC) through their respective development finance institutions, as well as leading US impact organisations.
CFP has secured US$673 million (RM3.18 billion) in commitments from a global consortium of investors including governments, philanthropies and institutional investors in an oversubscribed final fundraise, exceeding the initial target of US$500 million (RM2.36 billion).
"CFP brings together public, private and philanthropic sectors to mobilise significant blended capital into climate infrastructure, targeting investment in non-OECD countries across Asia, Latin America and Africa.
"The partnership seeks to facilitate realisation of Ditrolic Energy's targeted one gigawatt (1GW) or more pipeline of solar projects, increasing Ditrolic Energy's targeted total capacity to 5GW or more pipeline of solar projects in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines," the company said.
It also involves investment and expansion of its flagship 360° Clean Energy Solution, EnerLoop, by enabling technology for carbon tracking, battery energy storage system, and green electricity sales.
Through the partnership, Ditrolic Energy said it aims to make Malaysia its investment hub to actively invest into key energy transition projects around its approved markets in the Asia Pacific region.
This includes Malaysia's National Energy Transition Roadmap programme where the company plans to mobilise significant amounts of capital private investment with the aim to accelerate and reduce the associated cost of energy transition for the country.
Ditrolic Energy founder and group chief executive officer Tham Chee Aun said the company is committed to playing a key role in Asia's energy transition.
"We are grateful for BlackRock's support, because the investment in Ditrolic Energy enables us to rapidly increase scale and maximise value to support transition to low carbon economies throughout multiple markets.
"With the capital raised and private investment to be mobilised, Ditrolic Energy would be in a prime position to undertake key energy transition projects in Malaysia and other Southeast Asia countries," he added.
BlackRock Asia Pacific co-head of climate infrastructure Valerie Speth said Ditrolic Energy holds a proven solar development track record in this diverse region.
She noted that the partnership presents an attractive opportunity to mobilise more capital into climate infrastructure in emerging markets and accelerate national ambitions to achieve net zero economies.
BlackRock currently manages over US$50 billion of infrastructure client assets under management, comprising infrastructure equity, debt, and solutions.
It has grown both organically and inorganically since its inception in 2011.