Speaking on a panel alongside representatives from Bain & Company, ICBC, Meridiam and DBS Bank (SGX:D05
) , Wong appeals to financiers to fund grid infrastructure. “The opportunities are tremendous. There is massive demand; there is a massive amount of resources to be tapped… Leveraging interconnections will solve a very big pain point.”
A lack of grid infrastructure and government planning is putting the brakes on renewable energy deployment in Southeast Asia, says Wong Kim Yin, group president and CEO at Sembcorp Industries (SGX:U96) .
The bottleneck extends to financing these large-scale projects, adds Wong at the Asia Infrastructure Forum 2024 on June 5. “Everybody is very familiar with financing wind farms, solar farms and even batteries but I don’t hear as much [about] financing for grid infrastructure. Without grid infrastructure, you just can’t deploy renewables. We are encountering that in Vietnam, Indonesia [and] I’m sure it’s happening in the Philippines and many other countries.”
